Taxiarchis Fountas (47th) and double goalscorer Christoph Knasmüllner (73rd, 95th) gave coach Dietmar Kühbauer’s team a successful end to the season after losing three games in a row for the first time during the Burgenlander’s tenure. For the sports director Zoran Barisic, who has been 51 years old since Saturday, it was an ideal birthday present. The Upper Austrians remain a welcome opponent, Rapid won six of the last seven duels in a draw.
Both teams started extremely ambitious when the fans returned in front of 3,000 fans, the result was a hard-fought, fast-paced first half hour in which the first excitement occurred after just five minutes. Husein Balic rounded Rapid goalkeeper Richard Strebinger and then went down, referee Sebastian Gishamer did not decide on a penalty, but showed the ÖFB team player for a swallow the yellow card. The decision was extremely controversial.
No goals before the break
Rapid was extremely dangerous for the first time in the 18th minute – after a gross blunder by Andres Andrade. The LASK defender “gave” the ball to Yusuf Demir, who pulled towards Alexander Schlager alone, but could not beat him. Just three minutes later, Peter Michorl showed his shooting qualities for the first time, and Rene Renner hit the outside pole after a counterattack initiated by Thomas Goiginger from an acute angle (24th).
Rapid could not capitalize on a Schlager uncertainty after a Demir corner kick (31st), Strebinger showed his skills with a powerful Michorl free kick from around 25 meters (35th). At that point the game was no longer at the same level as it was at the beginning, and many ball losses shaped the action.
Knasmüllner puts together a double pack
After the restart, the home side made a dream start. The ball ran smoothly over several stations, especially thanks to Demir, who initiated the action himself and then served Stojkovic in the penalty area, who in turn skillfully used Fountas, and the Greek used dry. “Joker” Knasmüllner created clear conditions with a placed shot into the corner from 20 meters and even tied up his double pack deep in stoppage time. After the break, there was hardly anything to be seen from the Linzers offensively.
You have to survive two rounds in the Conference League qualification on the way to a European group stage. Rapid starts in the second qualifying round for the premier class and would get more chances for a group stage if they were out in the qualification of the Europa League or if they were defeated there in the qualification of the Conference League. Third Sturm Graz already has that for sure, should it not come to anything in the Europa League play-off.
Tipico Bundesliga, 32nd round
Saturday:
SK Rapid Wien – LASK 3: 0 (0: 0)
Vienna, Allianz Stadium, 3,000 spectators, SR Gishamer
Goal sequence:
1: 0 Fountas (47.)
2-0 Knasmüllner (73.)
3: 0 Knasmüllner (95.)
Rapid: Strebinger – Greiml (66./Schick), Hofmann, Barac (78./Sonnleitner) – Stojkovic, Schuster, Petrovic (78./D. Ljubicic), Ullmann – Demir (78./Kitagawa), Kara, Fountas. / Knasmüllner)
CALCULATION: Schlager – Filipovic (85./Ramsebner), Trauner, Andrade – Ranftl, Madsen, Michorl, Renner – Goiginger, Eggestein (51./Reiter), Balic (71./Griger)
Yellow cards: Hofmann or Balic, Renner
The best: Demir, Stojkovic, Hofmann or Renner, Madsen
