Image: EVA MANHART (APA)
At the beginning of April, Ried has the chance to reach the final of the cup for the next time in a row. Rapid Wien and Sturm Graz already reached the semi-finals on Friday, for which LASK and Austria Klagenfurt are also fighting on Sunday. The draw will then take place on February 19th. The sports club missed out on making it into the last four for the first time since 1991 and had to bury its dream of winning the cup for the first time in a hundred years.
Jonas Wendlinger kept the goal at SV Ried, the newly signed ex-Rapidler Richard Strebinger has not yet been used. In the storm center acted storm loan Lang, Christoph Monschein and Seifedin Chabbi took a seat on the bench. Sport-Club trainer Robert Weinstabl changed his starting XI in one position compared to the success against Wiener Austria in the round before, David Rajkovic replaced Philip Buzuk.
The first excitement of the game was not long in coming. Mario Vucenovic hit the crossbar in the first minute, but from a suspected offside position. After the lively start, calm returned to the game. The 6,000 spectators at the Sportclub Platz saw Rieder dominating the game for long stretches, but apart from a header from captain Stefan Nutz (20th), this was not mandatory. The sports club tried again and again to play straight forward, only two half-chances jumped out.
Due to the extremely difficult pitch conditions, both teams found it difficult to build up the game, passing relays over several stations were a rarity. At the beginning of the second half, SV Ried managed a successful move down the left flank, which resulted in a controversial penalty whistle from referee Walter Altmann. Roko Jurisic went down after a contact in a duel, the referee remained true to his decision even after studying VAR. Lang converted the penalty effortlessly (50th).
Shortly thereafter, things got even worse for the sports club. Luka Gusic was sent off after a handball with yellow-red (52nd). SV Ried was initially unable to capitalize on the majority, only a header from Tin Plavotic caused a bit of danger (65′). The Sport-Club fought bravely against the defeat, a free kick directly from the edge of the penalty area landed in the wall (72nd).
In the end, however, the class of the Bundesliga club prevailed. After a well-timed cross, Leo Mikic led the decision completely alone in front of goalkeeper Florian Prögelhof
Source: Nachrichten
