Piatkowski goal against Rapid makes Salzburg the winter king

Defender Kamil Piatkowski (19th) scored the goal with his head. The Rapid team, who certainly created a few chances, also played their 21st competitive game in a row against Salzburg without a win.

For the Rapid community, 20,400 of whom had gathered in the Allianz Stadium, the game was supposed to result in a big celebration before the winter break. In the end there were no three points to celebrate; for the first time under coach Robert Klauß, the Hütteldorfers had to leave the pitch as losers. Rapid had so far won two league games under the German.

Before kick-off, Rapid legend Antonin Panenka, who recently celebrated his 75th birthday, was honored. The green-whites then started well and combined solidly several times and also cautiously approached the Salzburg goal. However, initially there was only a half chance: Guido Burgstaller missed a sharp cross from the left in the 14th minute.

A damper on the good mood despite the frosty temperatures in the west of Vienna happened in the 19th minute. After a corner from the left, Luka Sucic stole away in the penalty area and played with his left instep into the middle, where Piatkowski gave the ball the decisive turn with his head. Niklas Hedl, who had previously shown a little uncertainty with his foot, was powerless in the Rapid goal.

The Viennese tried to remain unimpressed and continue to play forward, but they couldn’t get through. Salzburg took more and more control of the game. Only once before the half-time break could things have gotten tricky for the champions if Matthias Seidl hadn’t immediately shot at the goal from a tight angle with his left in the 41st minute. Burgstaller would have been better positioned and unguarded in the middle of the penalty area.

In the 55th minute, Burgstaller looked through his fingers again in the middle. A header cross assist from Michael Sollbauer, who played in central defense instead of the suspended Terence Kongolo, was cleared by goalscorer Piatkowski. In the 57th minute, Marco Grüll took a shot, but Alexander Schlager in the Salzburg goal had little trouble with it. Rapid was lucky that Roko Simic didn’t make more of his opportunities,

In the 70th minute, the equalizer only seemed to come about: Burgstaller slipped the ball over the line after defending against a shot that was too short, and was just offside. In any case, that was the result of a long VAR check.

The final phase dragged on because of this interruption. Coherent actions took place less and less. In stoppage time, a Salzburg goal by Samson Baidoo was disallowed due to a minor offside position. Rapid threw everything forward again in vain. With over 100 minutes on the clock, it was over at the Allianz Stadium.

A positive side note for Salzburg was the comeback of offensive player Fernando from the 75th minute. The Brazilian had missed almost the entire season due to injuries, most recently making a brief appearance against WAC on August 26th. Salzburg has the all-important Champions League game against Benfica on Tuesday.

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