In the first leg of the play-off final, Rapid took a big step towards the European Cup: The 2-1 away win against LASK conquerors Tirol laid the foundation for a good starting position in the first quarter of an hour – Marco Grüll (10th) and Jonas Auer ( 13.) scored for a 2-0 lead.
“We weren’t as ready in the first 20 minutes as we were against LASK,” said Tyrol’s striker Giacomo Vrioni, whose goal (27th) gave at least a little hope for the second leg on Sunday. “Now we have to regenerate well so that we can win in Vienna.”
Rapid then also have to replace captain Maximilian Hofmann, who suffered a broken cheekbone before the break. Coach Ferdinand Feldhofer’s selection was small even before the first leg, not only because of injury-related absences.
Stojkovic to LASK?
Replacement captain Filip Stojkovic was no longer in Rapid’s squad. On Wednesday, sports director Zoran Barisic withdrew what we considered to be an absolutely top offer for a contract extension because the Montenegrin team player hesitated to sign it.
Coach Feldhofer therefore eliminated him from the squad, as did Kelvin Arase, who is moving to Karlsruhe, and Srdjan Grahovac, whose contract is expiring. He explained that some players were no longer willing to hold out their bones for the club against Tirol.
The same thing happened to Rapid as happened to Emanuel Aiwu at the beginning of the season: When his move to Rapid was imminent, the defender no longer felt able to play for Admira, who was later relegated.
At Stojkovic, a very hot lead leads to LASK, who is looking for a right-back. Coach Dietmar Kühbauer knows the 29-year-old from their time together at Rapid, Stojkovic played with Branko Jovicic from 2017 to 2019 at Red Star Belgrade.
SV Guntamatic Ried has already secured the first signing with Michael Martin: As reported, the 21-year-old German comes from second-division club Verwarts Steyr.
Source: Nachrichten
