SK Rapid slid into a veritable debacle against FC Vaduz on Thursday evening. In front of 15,100 horrified spectators in the Allianz Stadium, the team coached by Ferdinand Feldhofer lost 1-0 (0-1) to the Swiss second division side in the play-off second leg of the Soccer Conference League and were eliminated with a total score of 1-2. The Hütteldorfer missed the group phase and the associated bonus of almost three million euros.
After the meager 1:1 in the first leg, the green-whites again delivered a weak but also unfortunate performance. Tunahan Cicek gave the guests the lead (22′), a little later Kevin Wimmer saw the red card for an emergency brake (35′). The Liechtensteiners then defended their narrow lead and created the sensation. While Austria is only represented by Wiener Austria in the Conference League, a club from Liechtenstein has qualified for a European Cup group stage for the first time. The European Cup season is over for Rapid, and everyday life in the league returns on Sunday with a difficult home game against Sturm Graz.
Compared to the first leg a week ago in the Principality, Feldhofer made four changes to the starting line-up. Yusuf Demir and Ferdy Druijf, who are fit again, were allowed to play from the start for the first time this season, along with Jonas Auer and Roman Kerschbaum. Vaduz coach Alessandro Mangiarratti changed his squad in two positions and let ex-Rapidler Kristijan Dobras start in his former football home. Compatriot Manuel Sutter, on the other hand, took a seat on the bench.
The green and white fans in the stadium explicitly demanded compensation, and the Rapid players showed their willingness. Less than three minutes had been played when Patrick Greil already had the 1-0 on his feet. Guido Burgstaller couldn’t finish in the center of the penalty area and pointed the ball to Greil, who failed from a few yards out at Benjamin Büchel (3′). A little later, Greil (10th) and Demir (11th) missed further opportunities.
Vaduz slowly freed itself from the grip and tried again and again to put needles – with success. The Rapid defense was overturned with a long ball from Dobras, Cicek coldly exploited the confusion in the hosts’ back line and netted free in front of Niklas Hedl to give the visitors the lead (22′). Auer did not look good with the goal.
The Liechtensteiners hit the target at Rapid. The Hütteldorfer seemed shocked, the offensive flow was gone. And it got even worse: after losing the ball slightly in midfield, Milan Gajic broke free towards the Rapid penalty area and was knocked down by Wimmer with both hands (35′). The Slovenian referee Rade Obrenovic pulled out the red card for this emergency brake, which meant that Feldhofer’s team had to try to turn the game around when they were outnumbered. Nicolas Hasler put the free kick into the wall.
Feldhofer reacted and took Greil off the field and brought on Leopold Querfeld to fill the hole in defense left by Wimmer (38′). In injury time in the first half, Druijf missed the equaliser, the Dutchman headed the ball into Büchel’s hands in a promising position after a Grüll cross (45’+3′). Then we went into the break with a shrill whistling concert.
In the second half, Vaduz cleverly kept the ball and opponents away from their own goal and created chances themselves. Fabio Fehr failed with the best alone in front of Hedl, who prevented the 0:2 with a strong save (53rd). The Rapidlers’ offensive efforts went mainly through Demir, whose long-range shots didn’t find their way into the goal (59′,65′). With a breath of fresh air from the bench, Feldhofer tried to set the ball rolling again and brought in Bernhard Zimmermann and Nicolas Kühn for Druijf and Demir. Kühn found the free Kerschbaum in the penalty area, but his shot was blocked (72′). After that there weren’t any more chances.
At Vaduz, the two Austrians Manuel Sutter and Anes Omerovic also played in the second half and were able to celebrate the sensation appropriately. After Koper from Slovenia and Konyaspor from Turkey, Rapid is now also on the “hit list”.
Rapid Wien – FC Vaduz 0:1 (0:1)
Vienna, Allianz Stadium, 15,100 spectators
SR Obrenovic/SLO. First leg: 1:1
Vaduz with the aggregate score of 2:1 in the group stage of the Conference League.
Goal: 0: 1 (22nd) Cicek
rapid: Hedl – Schick, Hofmann (46th Moormann), K. Wimmer, Auer – Kerschbaum (85th Pejic) – Demir (66th Kühn), Burgstaller, Greil (38th Querfeld), Grüll – Druijf (66th Zimmermann)
Vaduz: Büchel – Gasser, Isik, Traber – Ulrich, Dobras (73 Fosso), Gajic, Fehr (66 Goelzer) – Hasler (80 Djokic) – Sasere (80 Omerovic), Cicek (46 Sutter)
Red card: K. Wimmer (35th/emergency brake)
Yellow cards: Hofmann, Schick, Kerschbaum, Querfeld or Cicek, Sasere, Sutter
Source: Nachrichten
