In the second game in 2022, Hütteldorfer conceded the second bankruptcy after the bitter out in the cup quarter-finals against TSV Hartberg. The chance to do better comes on Thursday (6:45 p.m.) in the first round of the 16 game in the Europa Conference League against Dutch representative Vitesse Arnheim in Vienna.
Filip Stojkovic (18th minute) gave the extremely aggressive Viennese the lead in front of 2,000 spectators before the break, Brenden Aaronson (64th) and Noah Okafor (77th) ensured the turnaround in favor of the superior league leaders, who extended their lead over pursuers Sturm Graz expanded to 17 points at least by Saturday. Rapid is 24 points behind in fifth place.
Rapid is subject to Salzburg
Salzburg opened the spring of the Admiral Bundesliga with a win. The series champion was 1-0 down at Rapid at the start of the 19th round on Friday, but still had the upper hand 2-1 in the end.
Demir on the bench, Oswald’s starting XI debut
Rapid coach Ferdinand Feldhofer had to hand in captain Maximilian Hofmann (calf injury) and Taxiarchis Fountas (ill). After his illness, Robert Ljubicic only sat on the bench at the beginning. In his company were neo-striker Ferdy Druijf and Yusuf Demir, who had returned from Barcelona.
But the only 20-year-old Moritz Oswald made his successful starting eleven debut in his third league appearance in the attacking midfield center. Top striker Karim Adeyemi returned to the starting eleven after surviving a tonsillectomy in the Salzburg team, who were last successful in the cup against LASK.
Rapid in defense mode
The Viennese relied on an extremely defensive orientation, Emanuel Aiwu, who was called up in front of the defence, kept falling back into the center of defense and thus ensured a five-man chain in the event of rapid attacks. The hosts were extremely aggressive right from the start and presented the “bulls” with major problems.
Luck was also helpful. Salzburg right-back Rasmus Kristensen put a deliberate effort into the corner in the 12th minute, but the goal was rightly disallowed because Aaronson was narrowly offside early in the action.
Stojkovic takes the first chance
At Rapid, on the other hand, the first good opportunity led to success. Stojkovic deftly broke free from an Auer free-kick and headed into the corner quite unprotected. As in the last cup against LASK, Salzburg was quickly behind, but this time lacked the necessary reaction.
There was a lack of ideas against the well-positioned Rapidler, for the first time in a long time the league Croesus remained without a shot on goal in one half. The most dangerous were an Aaronson long-range shot (38′) and an outside netting hit by Adeyemi (43′).
Salzburg are working their way into the game
After the restart, the events remained fragmented at first. From the 57th minute, the ÖFB team player Nicolas Seiwald, who had recovered faster than expected, made his comeback in the jersey of the guests, and their danger also increased. Paul Gartler was able to fish an Adeyemi header out of the Kreuzeck (62′), but two minutes later he was powerless.
Okafor wasn’t attacked enough on the side and after his cross Aaronson had too much space in the penalty area and was able to score. Rapid obviously had trouble with the increased pressure from the “bulls”, but almost took the lead again themselves.
Another top chance was initiated by an Auer free kick, a follow-up shot by Srdjan Grahovac was deflected to a corner (69th). On the other side, an Adeyemi header went wide (74′). His strike partner Okafor became the match winner three minutes later, sinking an ideal cross from Junior Adamu, who had just been substituted on, from close range. Rapid have only won one of their last 23 league games against Salzburg.
Comments on the game:
Matthias Jaissle (Salzburg coach): “We were too wild after the 0:1, too headless. It was really good in the second half, we had structure. We radiated dominance. The guys were really good, that also shows maturity.”
Ferdinand Feldhofer (Rapid-Trainer): “In the end it’s a shame that we couldn’t take anything with us. That hurts. But if we continue like this, we will have a lot of fun with this team. We did a lot of things right defensively and had a good rate of tackles. We just didn’t find the rooms we wanted. But we still had the game under control up to the 60th minute.”
Admiral Bundesliga, 19th round
Friday:
Rapid – Salzburg 1:2 (1:0)
Vienna, Allianz Stadium, 2,000 spectators, SR Schüttengruber
goal sequence:
1:0 (18.) Stojkovic
1:1 (64.) Aaronson
1:2 (77.) Okafor
Rapid: Gartler – Schick, Stojkovic (85th / Demir), Moormann, Auer – Petrovic (76th / Druijf), Aiwu, Oswald (67th / Ljubicic), Grahovac – Kitagawa (67th / Arase), Grüll
Salzburg: Köhn – Kristensen, Solet, Wöber, Ulmer – Capaldo (57th / N. Seiwald), Camara, Aaronson, Bernede (74th / Tijani) – Okafor, Adeyemi (75th / Adamu)
Yellow cards: Schick or Wöber, Okafor, Camara
The best: Grüll, Stojkovic and Aaronson, N. Seiwald, Camara
