The Viennese lost 1:2 (1:1) to the favored Portuguese in the first leg on Thursday. In Braga’s “Felsenstadion”, Lukas Grgic was sent off in the 4th minute. Guido Burgstaller (25th) scored to give them the lead, but the northern Portuguese equalized through Vitor Carvalho (33rd), and Rodrigo Zalazar (71st) turned the game around for good.
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For Rapid, it was the first defeat in the ninth competitive match of the season after seven wins and a draw. In the return match in front of a home crowd next Thursday (9 p.m.), Robert Klauß’s team still has a chance of promotion. The winner will be in the league phase of the Europa League, the loser will be allowed to continue playing in the Conference League.
Fatal beginning
The match in front of almost 16,000 spectators was less than two minutes old, but had already featured two striking scenes. Braga’s Robson Bambu first invited Dion Beljo with a completely failed back pass. The Croatian, who had been brought into the European Cup team for Louis Schaub, rounded the fit goalkeeper Matheus, but was unable to control the ball in front of the empty goal and missed the huge opportunity. Seconds later, Grgic went too hard in a tackle against Zalazar. The midfielder was initially shown a yellow card for his kick to the ankle, but the Ukrainian referee Mykola Balakin changed his mind after VAR intervention and rightly showed Grgic a straight red.
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Image: GEPA pictures/ Kevin Hackner
Source: Nachrichten
