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Europa League: Rapid sets course for play-off

Rapid went into the break with a header from Ercan Kara (35th) with a 1-0 lead. After changing sides, Taxiarchis Fountas met with a long shot (64th) and Marco Grüll with a close into the far corner (83rd) for the Viennese. The win against the Cypriot cup winner could have been even higher, but Christoph Knasmüllner missed a penalty (62nd).

In front of 11,400 spectators at the Allianz Stadium, Rapid secured a good starting position to take revenge for the out in the qualifying for the premier class 2008. At that time, after a 3-0 defeat away from home, a 3-1 home win was not enough for the Hütteldorfer. They celebrated a victory in their fourth European Cup home game against a team from Cyprus.

The 2-0 by Fountas

Taxiarchis Fountas scored for Rapid with a long shot in the 65th minute to make it 2-0. The substitute Famagusta goalie Giorgi Loria did not cut a good figure.

Again late failures at Rapid

For the Viennese there was bad news in the run-up to the game, as was the case before the CL qualifying second leg, which was lost 2-0 at Sparta Prague. While three players in the Czech Republic did not report fit, this time there were two failures. Right-back Filip Stojkovic had to pass due to illness, as did midfielder Dejan Petrovic.

Knasmüllner, who otherwise acted more aggressively, took over the position as “eighth” for him. The defense center formed Maximilian Hofmann and Leo Greiml, newcomer Kevin Wimmer had to go to the bench for the first time. Thorsten Schick replaced Stojkovic in the back four.

Hütteldorfer consider from the start

Rapid seemed focused right from the start, was clearly defining the game and also created a significant increase in opportunities. In the eighth minute, Schick spitted an Arase cross past the gate. Further possibilities were in the air, the last pass was missing for the time being. Only in the 32nd minute did the ball run once over several stations until the end as desired, but when Fountas shot from almost 20 meters, the bar saved the guests. Three minutes later, the ball floundered in the net. A chic corner was lengthened by Knasmüllner at the short corner with his head and Kara headed.

Kara meets the leadership

Ercan Kara was in the right place after a corner kick at the right time and headed from close range to give Rapid a well-deserved lead (35th).

A double strike almost succeeded again after a corner kick variant. After a short Schick corner, Knasmüllner served Kara with his heel, who failed from ten meters to goalie Assaf Tzur (40th). It was also Famagusta’s goalkeeper who reacted brilliantly to a Fountas conclusion shortly before the break (45th). There was nothing to be seen offensive by the Cypriots, which was also underlined by a shot ratio of 10: 1 in half one.

Preliminary decision follows on awarded penalty

After the restart, the guests could see an effort to do more. This gave Rapid more space, lurked on the counterattack and was extremely dangerous. Kara was hit on the foot in the penalty area by Hovhannes Hambartsumyan, who had recently been substituted on, but Knasmüllner found his master on the penalty kick in substitute goalkeeper Loria. Two minutes later, however, a left-footed shot by Fountas hit the goal.

Knasmüllner awards penalties

After a foul on Ercan Kara, Christoph Knasmüllner took the penalty, but failed because of the Famagusta substitute goal Giorgi Loria (62.).

The guests did not give up, with a Popovic degree only centimeters were missing (69th). That was also the case with Kyle Lafferty, who slipped past a cross (75th). In the finish, the home side made everything clear on the other side. Grüll met after Grahovac pass from a somewhat acute angle into the far corner.

Voices for the game:

Dietmar Kühbauer (Rapid trainer): “If you had spoken of a 3-0 before the game, we would have taken that. But we had a chance of a bigger win. But I am satisfied. But we mustn’t think we’re going there with bathing slippers. We need a good performance there too, we want to get to the next round. I think we were more involved today, we had good movement, good solutions. If we hadn’t acted so stubbornly in front of the goal, we could have won even higher. “

Temur Ketsbaia (Famagusta coach): “Unfortunately, the problems we had before the game were carried over to the game. We couldn’t keep up with Rapid’s rhythm. Unfortunately we were a little too slow. “

Marco Grüll (Rapid goalscorer): “We can be very satisfied. We should have led higher in the first half. But the 3-0 is a very good result. We have created a great starting position. We’ll play in such a way that we don’t lose, we want to win. “

Europa League qualification, third round, first leg

Thursday:

Rapid – Anorthosis Famagusta 3:0 (1:0)

Vienna, Allianz Stadium, 11,400 spectators, SR Mariani (ITA)

Goal sequence:
1: 0 Kara (35.)
2: 0 Fountas (64.)
3: 0 Grüll (83.)

Rapid: Strebinger – Schick, Greiml, Hofmann, Ullmann – Grahovac, Knasmüllner (71./Schuster) – Arase (78./Auer), Fountas (78./Strunz), Grüll (88./Sulzbacher) – Kara

Famagusta: Tzur (59./Loria) – Correa (59./Hambartsumyan), Arajuuri, Antoniadis, Correia – Kaltsas (46./Deletic), Ioannou (46./Popovic), Artymatas, Husbauer – Christodoulopoulos (72./Christofi), Lafferty

Yellow cards: Schick, Sulzbacher or Arajuuri, Correa, Antoniadis

The best: Fountas, Knasmüllner, Kara, Grüll and Tzur

Second leg on August 12 (7 p.m.) in Larnaca. The winner will meet Sorja Luhansk (UKR) in the play-off, the loser will switch to the Conference League play-off and will face Slask Wroclaw (POL) or Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR). In both cases, the game will be played on August 19 and 26.

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