Rapid against Austria ended with a 3-3 spectacle and two reds

The green-whites took the lead in front of a sell-out crowd of 26,000 fans through striker Guido Burgstaller, then fell behind twice and still managed to win a point. Both teams ended the game with only ten men. The Hütteldorfer have to wait for a derby win after the eleventh attempt in the Allianz Stadium.

Burgstaller (15th) presented Rapid with his 16th goal of the season. Andreas Gruber (28′) and Haris Tabakovic (31′) initially turned the game around for Austria without a licence, before Roman Kerschbaum (43′) made it half-time. Shortly after the change of sides, Rapids Denso Kasius (47th) had to leave the field with red. Tabakovic (78′) apparently put Austria on course for victory with his twelfth goal of the season before Marco Grüll (83′) struck with a free kick. Tabakovic saw yellow-red in the finish (86th). In the table, after the third round of the master group, Rapid is one point ahead of Austria in fourth place, the third LASK is four points away.

Zoran Barisic rebuilt his team in three positions despite the last convincing performance against Klagenfurt (3:1). Aleksa Pejic, Michael Sollbauer and Denso Kasius were there instead of Patrick Greil, Martin Moormann and Thorsten Schick. They should strengthen the center, Rapid’s coach said, referring to one of the lessons learned after the 2-0 loss at Favorites three weeks ago. At Austria only Manuel Polster started, as expected, on the outside left instead of the injured Doron Leidner.

The playfully much stronger “Violets” had the better start. Tabakovic tried his heel after five minutes, but Niklas Held wasn’t surprised. Rapid’s goalkeeper was also there when the Swiss shot low (8′). Rapid was busy, but took the lead even from the first dangerous action. After a throw-in, Jonas Auer immediately looked for Burgstaller, who headed the cross into the box in the style of an attacker with form.

Burgstaller scored in the seventh home game in a row, which, according to the data service provider Opta, means a club record. Leopold Querfeld rose dangerously high after a corner kick, but placed his header too centrally (24′). It was followed by minutes of violet flavor. Austria’s pressing against Grüll was worth it, the Rapidler lost the ball, Dominik Fitz found Gruber, who defeated Hedl. Minutes later, Matthias Braunöder found Gruber in the penalty area again, and Tabakovic used his discard.

Austria was rewarded for their performance, but had to worry when Tabakovic lay down. The center forward could continue. Michael Wimmer’s team seemed on their way to taking the lead before Rapid again made a lot out of little. After an unsatisfactory attempt to clear the ball, Kerschbaum was able to shoot from about 20 meters into the far corner. Emotions ran high again in injury time: Sollbauer brought down Gruber on the edge of the penalty area, referee Sebastian Gishamer revised the penalty originally given after studying VAR. The subsequent Fitz free kick touched the outside bar.

Tabakovic and Kasius had a heated argument when they went into the dressing room. After a change of sides, the young Dutchman let himself be carried away by an overly tough tackle against Reinhold Ranftl and promptly saw red. The game was now more confused, as Rapid was one man down and more looking for protection. Tabakovic failed from a few yards out at Hedl (53′), but the goal probably wouldn’t have counted because it was offside. Burgstaller saw a yellow card after attacking Früchtl too briskly.

With 20 minutes to go, Rapid presented themselves with a huge opportunity. After a wide ball, Grüll failed because Früchtl rushed out, and substitute Patrick Greil couldn’t get the ball past the German in the follow-up shot. Just as the hosts were able to launch offensive actions, it hit the green-and-white goal. Tabakovic grabbed the ball, leaving friend and foe alike as observers and finished off ice cold.

Thorsten Schick wanted to force the answer right from the start. The offense of Polster on the winger was initially called a penalty, Gishamer changed again to a free kick just outside the box – Grüll, who was courted by LA Galaxy, defeated Früchtl. It didn’t get boring well into injury time. Austria’s final offensive subsided after the exclusion of Tabakovic, who, according to Gishamer, had already been warned and went into the duel with Querfeld with his foot too high. In the final scenes, Fischer initially demanded a penalty kick, but in return Früchtl cleared far outside the penalty area just in front of Burgstaller.