The gap to Leader Salzburg is now 13 points. A nice free-kick from Srdjan Grahovac (45th) was too little to take home the third win of the season. Roman Kerschbaum (51st) also shone as a free-kick taker and Stephan Zwierschitz (84th) gave the home side the fatal blow. They failed to gain more self-confidence before Thursday’s duel with the Belgian Club Genk in the Allianz Stadium, and after four unbeaten competitive games they once again suffered a defeat.
After the 1-1 draw in the Vienna Derby at Austria and a subsequent international break, regular goalkeeper Richard Strebinger returned to the Rapid goal. Thorsten Schick defended on the right instead of the sick Filip Stojkovic. Like the regular right-back, Robert Ljubicic, who was injured in the foot and was replaced by Dejan Petrovic, was missing. At Admira there was only one change compared to the 1-1 draw against Sturm Graz, Sebastian Bauer started in central defense for Matthias Ostrzolek.
Home defeat for Rapid against Admira
Andreas Herzog and his Admira celebrated a sensational 2-1 win over Rapid in the Allianz Arena. The Hütteldorfer slide down to eighth place in the table.
The Viennese had more from the game in front of 16,600 spectators, but had problems against the aggressive and strong-running Südstadters. If it got dangerous, it was mostly from set pieces or long-range shots, like that of Marco Grüll, in which the inside bar saved the guests (18th).
Ercan Kara missed a header three minutes later. The Admirans not only stood in the back and were dangerous twice in the first half hour. A Mustapha header went over it (17th), and Strebinger was also able to fend off a Lukacevic shot for a corner (29th).
Stroke of genius from Grahovic
A stroke of genius by Grahovac caused collective cheers from Hütteldorfer immediately before the break whistle. The 28-year-old Bosnian hit from 18 meters over the wall and via the lower edge of the battens into the corner.
The Admirans coped well with the setback, and immediately after the restart, ex-Rapidler Dominik Starkl had two good actions. First he put the ball over it (47th), then took a free kick around 20 meters from the goal. Kerschbaum took an example from Grahovac and put the leather into the case in a similar way.
Later winning goal
The tension remained fully intact, even if the guests continued to appear brave, Rapid was closer to victory for the time being. A Grüll header landed on the crossbar (56th), Kara did not come to a close from a difficult angle after Schick’s flank (71st). Schick also missed the goal (81st). The Admirans, on the other hand, were masters of efficiency. After a corner and Ganda shot, the ball was deflected by Maximilian Ullmann to Zwierschitz, who completed it from a very short distance. The hit was rightly recognized after a long VAR study.
With this, he subsequently gave Herzog the best birthday present, who surprisingly got the upper hand in the coaching duel between two members of Rapids’ century team. After the 1-1 draw against Sturm, they scored again against a higher-rated opponent and ended a series of four games without a win. Against Rapid it was the first success after nine defeats. For Rapid there were whistles from the ranks when they said goodbye.
Voices for the game:
Dietmar Kühbauer (Rapid Trainer): “We were clearly the better team in the first half, had one or two chances and deserved to take the lead. After the break we wanted to play for the second goal and we equalized with a set piece. We then had a few problems for a moment, but then we had opportunities to make it 2-1, which we gave away. There’s the dog inside, we’re not as focused, as determined as last year. That’s the only reason we didn’t win the game and then we lost it. In football, the better team doesn’t always have to leave the field as the winner. “
Andreas Herzog (Admira trainer): “When you win away at Rapid, you have to be over the moon. I was not satisfied with the playful performance because we had to correct many mistakes in the forward movement with a lot of running work. But the team fought with incredible passion and energy and it is sometimes the case that you can force that little bit of luck. The win is fantastic. It’s important that we’ve seen that we can play against really strong opponents away from home. It’s always been a special story when you can win against a supposedly better opponent, with whom you also played yourself. “
Admiral Bundesliga, seventh round
Saturday:
Quick – Admire 1: 2 (1: 0)
Vienna, Allianz Stadium, 16,600 spectators, SR Ebner
Goal sequence:
1: 0 Grahovac (45./Freistoß)
1:1 Kerschbaum (51./Freistoß)
1:2 Zwierschitz (84.)
Rapid: Strebinger – Schick, Greiml, Hofmann, Ullmann – Grahovac, Petrovic – Arase (87./Kitagawa), Fountas (78./Knasmüllner), Grüll – Kara
Admire: Leitner – Zwierschitz, Brugger, Bauer, Lukacevic (46./Ostrzolek) – L. Malicsek – Kerschbaum, Babuscu, (67./Ebner) Kronberger (78./Vorsager) – Mustapha (46./Ganda), Starkl (78. / Hausjell)
Yellow cards: Greiml, Schick, Arase or Malicsek, Mustapha, Lukacevic, Vorsager, Kerschbaum
The best: Grüll, Grahovac, Schick or Starkl, Malicsek, Kerschbaum
