Rapid had made a good start in the game that was balanced over long stretches, but in the end a red card and a penalty decided the game. Sturm moved up to third place in the table with their third win of the season, Rapid is fifth with one game less.
After Nicolas Kühn took the lead in the 15th minute, Rapid seemed to be jolted in front of 19,200 spectators. Compared to the historic 1-0 defeat against FC Vaduz, the green-whites presented themselves as more focused and more secure on the ball, while Sturm, without Rasmus Höjlund and Jakob Jantscher, showed a rather below-average attacking performance. In the 86th minute, however, Tomi Horvat converted a penalty after a red foul by Martin Moormann to give the visitors the win.
At Rapid there were five changes in the starting eleven compared to the Vaduz defeat on Thursday. Yusuf Demir was out with ankle problems, Maximilian Hofmann with a concussion. Thorsten Schick, Kevin Wimmer and Ferdy Druijf also had to give way. Martin Koscelnik, Leopold Querfeld, Aleksa Pejic, Moormann and Kühn were new to the team. At Sturm Alexandar Borkovic, Amadou Dante and Christoph Lang played for David Affengruber, David Schnegg and Höjlund, who was transferred to Atalanta.
Marco Grüll had a first half chance for the home team in the 6th minute. His not-too-sharp shot from inside the penalty area landed in Jörg Siebenhandl’s arms. In the early stages, both teams exercised caution, but Rapid showed a little more verve and got into the danger zone more often. This was also the case in the 15th minute, when Querfeld sent the quick Kühn on his way after winning the ball, which then gave Siebenhandl no chance in a one-on-one. For the German it was the first goal in the Bundesliga.
The equalizer was less than ten minutes in coming. After a corner kick from the right, Manprit Sarkaria shot from outside the box, Wüthrich deflected the ball with his body into the goal. Nevertheless, Rapid stayed on the trigger. Grüll missed the big chance to make it 2-1 from close range in the 37th minute, chasing the ball well over the goal.
After the break, Sturm coach Christian Ilzer gave the young Mohammed Fuseini his league debut, later he also replaced captain Stefan Hierländer and Sarkaria. This did not improve the flow of the game for the guests playing in blue, but the game generally rippled along. Instead of chances, there were hard duels and fouls to note. At Rapid, Querfeld had to be substituted in the 68th minute because of a head injury that was bleeding profusely after a collision with Fuseini.
Some momentum was created at Rapid by bringing in Bernhard Zimmermann in the 80th minute. The locals threw everything forward again. But during a counterattack during this phase, Moormann tackled Emanuel Emegha impetuously in the penalty area. Horvat converted the subsequent penalty dryly.
Source: Nachrichten
