The Viennese defeated WSG Tirol 2-0 (1-0) at home in the second leg of the league play-off on Sunday. Grünweiß won the first leg in Innsbruck 2-1. Rapid is starting in the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League. Wattens missed the historic chance to qualify for the international stage for the first time in club history.
In the 29th minute, Robert Ljubicic scored the important lead for Ferdinand Feldhofer’s team in what was probably his last game for Rapid. The midfielder is reportedly about to join Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb. The WSG did not manage to answer in the third game within seven days. Substitute Nicolas Binder (87th) made the late decision with his first league goal.
10,400 spectators wanted to see Rapid’s last performance of the season. The home team started with eleven Austrians in the starting line-up, with two changes in defence. Instead of Maximilian Hofmann and Pascal Fallmann, who had already been operated on after facial fractures, Leopold Querfeld and Thorsten Schick began. There were also changes on the defensive for the Tyroleans. Maxime Awoudja and Felix Bacher replaced Fabian Koch and the suspended Kofi Schulz in the starting XI.
The home side, recently plagued by quarrels about migrating players, started briskly. Marco Grüll moved from a good position after just three minutes, Christoph Knasmüllner’s long-range shot steered WSG goalie Ferdinand Oswald over the bar. Rapid’s forward drive opened up space for the Watteners on the counterattack. Zan Rogelj shot wide of the far corner (14′), and goalscorer Giacomo Vrioni – who ended the season level with Karim Adeyemi with 19 goals – found plenty of space. The Silberberger team sometimes acted too awkwardly in good situations, while Rapid presented.
After a long ball relay, Ljubicic, who had come in in a new look, got the ball almost 20 meters in front of the goal and circled it completely unhindered with his left into the far corner. The WSG could console itself with the fact that little has changed in the initial situation. The Tyroleans would have needed two goals in Hütteldorf anyway. The minutes before the break then passed uneventfully. Additional offensive efforts by Wattens could not be seen.
After changing sides, Vrioni and Co. vehemently tried to move forward. What the WSG lacked were degrees. Bernhard Zimmermann had the preliminary decision at his feet for Rapid after an hour, but Oswald deflected the striker’s shot off the post with his toe. Silberberger reacted with a triple exchange, Feldhofer immediately took his strike duo off the field with Grüll, who was injured in the thigh, and Zimmermann.
The Tyroleans wanted to force their luck more and more. Paul Gartler parried Raffael Behounek’s header (69′), Rapid’s goalkeeper also prevented a green-white tremor against Sandi Ogrinec’s shot from an acute angle (77′). When Wattens moved up wide, the 20-year-old Binder then ran away after a wide ball and didn’t give Oswald a chance.
Source: Nachrichten
