There is an enormous need for talks at Rapid after the 1-1 win in the first leg of the Conference League play-off at FC Vaduz. A drawn-looking coach Ferdinand Feldhofer described his team’s performance in Liechtenstein as “shameful”. “Out of the question,” said captain Maximilian Hofmann. “That was an insult to any Rapid fan.” There would be time to work through the next few days, because Rapid is taking a break in the league at the weekend due to the strains of the European Cup.
After the postponement of the Bundesliga game against Hartberg, which was originally scheduled for Sunday, the second leg against Vaduz next Thursday (9 p.m.) is the next mandatory match for Hütteldorfer. In the Allianz Stadium at home, however, a different performance will be required for promotion to the group stage than in the Principality, where Green and White were extremely lucky on Thursday not to suffer a real embarrassment. With his long-range shot in the 53rd minute, “Joker” Ferdy Druijf ensured that at least the result was okay.
“Walked away with more than two black eyes”
“I don’t want to see anything like what happened here in the first half. We were far from normal form, every single one,” said Feldhofer plainly. “We didn’t win a single duel, we didn’t pass to the next one. We didn’t have the courage to let the ball circulate”. Defender Hofmann “couldn’t remember that we played such a first half. It was really, really nothing,” he said in an ORF interview. “We didn’t win a duel, we were so far away, the backward movement was crazy. We got away with more than two black eyes.”
It will actually have to be analyzed why the Rapidlers were so upset in the first half. It can hardly have been due to the hostile environment, as the fans of the green and whites dominated the modest crowd of 3,500 spectators in the Rheinpark Stadium, at least for many phases. “When you see who came along, you can only apologize for the performance,” said striker Guido Burgstaller, who, like most of his colleagues, remained colorless. “We were technically inferior, we were inferior in duels. Then they played us in good German.”
No video evidence: Lucky for Rapid
The Austrian club was also lucky shortly before the break when Vaduz striker Manuel Sutter hit the crossbar. From there, the ball probably dripped behind the line, as a study of the TV pictures suggests. However, the officials from Estonia could not access the video evidence in Liechtenstein. A Swiss goal in the 65th minute, which was not given due to passive offside, would probably have been checked by the video assistant – and perhaps objected to. “Very happy, we can only say thank you,” said Hofmann.
After the break, Feldhofer brought on the later goalscorer Druijf, Yusuf Demir, Jonas Auer and Roman Kerschbaum. This brought some momentum, but the coach wasn’t really happy about the second half either. The best thing about the game was “that it only ended 1-1, so everything is possible,” Hofmann summed up before the return match. “We still have a chance. We have to take it and I’m sure we’ll take it with the support of our fans in our stadium,” emphasized Dutchman Druijf, who, like Demir and Kerschbaum, who are also fit again, is an issue for the starting line-up could become.
Rapid will be warned that Vaduz has already progressed in the previous qualifying rounds with a 1-1 draw at home. The club, which is active in the Swiss Challenge League, first won against the Slovenian FC Koper and then against Konyaspor. “Of course, the goal now for Vienna is that we play exactly the same. I’m confident that it will work then,” said Sutter from Vorarlberg, who has never played in the Austrian Bundesliga. The 31-year-old revealed that he was extremely looking forward to the premiere at the Allianz Stadium.
Austria Wien: A lot of effort, no return
Austria Wien lost in the Europa League play-off at home to Fenerbahce Istanbul 0-2 (0-1). Austria kept up well against the big Turkish club in the first half, but they scored through Josuha King (8th) and Serdar Dursun (89th). The Violets, who had to make do with one player less after the 83rd minute after Lucas Galvao was booked, are likely to migrate to the Conference League.
Source: Nachrichten
