Rapid celebrates 2-1 win over WAC

The Hütteldorfer celebrated a 2-1 away win against WAC on Sunday and are therefore three laps before the end of the regular season as fourth in the table and six points ahead of seventh place. The ninth-placed WAC, on the other hand, is already six points behind in sixth place. Patrick Greil (23′) and Bernhard Zimmermann (43′) scored for the guests, Tai Baribo scored the goal of honor for the Carinthians (53′).

The game didn’t offer any highlights in the early stages, a shot by Maurice Malone right at Rapid goalie Hedl (4th) was the highest of emotions. Practically out of nowhere, Rapid struck for the first time. After a wide pass from Jonas Auer, Guido Burgstaller took aim in the penalty area, WAC keeper Hendrik Bonmann was only able to save briefly and Greil pushed the ball over the line. A VAR review of around three and a half minutes ensued before determining that Burgstaller had not been flagged for offside.

The VAR made the second big appearance in the 43rd minute. After preliminary work by Ante Bajic, Zimmermann shot in, immediately afterwards the assistant referee’s flag went up. However, Bajic was not offside, as the video assistant decided two minutes later – so this goal also counted.

Before that, Burgstaller had already missed a top opportunity, he failed from a few meters to Bonmann (35th). In contrast, the WAC only became really dangerous in injury time in the first half, when a header from Simon Piesinger flew relatively close to the goal. On the other hand, the Wolfsbergers brought excitement back into the game in the 53rd minute. Thorsten Röcher, who came on at the break, put on the ball for Baribo and the Israeli striker scored with an outside instep volley from close range.

After that, Rapid faltered, but didn’t fall because the WAC attacks were carried out too uncoordinated. While the guests missed two good chances in the finish through Moritz Oswald and Burgstaller, the Carinthians didn’t create any more compelling chances and thus suffered their second home defeat against Rapid in three weeks. In the quarterfinals of the cup, the green-whites won 3-1 after extra time. Now the Hütteldorfers achieved their fourth victory in their 21st league appearance in the Lavanttal Arena. The WAC has won just one home game this championship season.