After the meager 1:1 in the first leg, the green-whites again delivered a weak but also unfortunate performance. 13 minutes after Cicek scored the opening goal, Kevin Wimmer saw the red card for an emergency brake (35′). The Liechtensteiners, with whom the Austrians Kristijan Dobras (up to the 73rd minute), Manuel Sutter (from the 46th minute) and Anes Omerovic (from the 80th minute) were in action, then defended their narrow lead and created the sensation.
While Austria is only represented by Wiener Austria in the Conference League, thanks to Vaduz, which is involved in the second Swiss league, a club from Liechtenstein has qualified for a European Cup group stage for the first time. The European Cup season is over for Rapid, and everyday life in the league returns on Sunday with a difficult home game against Sturm Graz.
Rapid starts motivated
Compared to the first leg a week ago in the Principality, Feldhofer made four changes to the starting line-up. Yusuf Demir and Ferdy Druijf, who are fit again, were allowed to play from the start for the first time this season, along with Jonas Auer and Roman Kerschbaum. Vaduz coach Alessandro Mangiarratti changed his team in two positions and let ex-Rapidler Dobras start at his former place of work.
The green-white fans in the stadium explicitly demanded compensation, and the Rapid players also showed their willingness. Less than three minutes had been played when Patrick Greil already had the 1-0 on his feet. Guido Burgstaller couldn’t finish in the center of the penalty area and pointed the ball to Greil, who failed from a few yards out at Benjamin Büchel (3′). A little later, Greil (10th) and Demir (11th) missed further opportunities.
Greil forgives from a short distance
Already in the third minute Greil had the possible liberation on the foot, but failed at the opposing goalie.
Vaduz with impact hit
Vaduz slowly freed itself from the grip and tried again and again to stick needles – with success. A long ball from Dobras overturned the Rapid defense, Cicek coldly exploited the confusion in the hosts’ back line and netted free in front of Niklas Hedl to open the scoring (22′). Auer did not look good with the goal.
The Liechtensteiners hit the target at Rapid. The Hütteldorfer seemed shocked, the offensive flow was gone. And it got even worse: after losing the ball slightly in midfield, Milan Gajic broke free towards the Rapid penalty area and was knocked down by Wimmer with both hands (35′). The Slovenian referee Rade Obrenovic pulled out the red card for this emergency brake, which meant that Feldhofer’s team had to try to turn the game around when they were outnumbered. Nicolas Hasler put the free kick into the wall.
Red card for Wimmer (35th minute)
The defender flies off the field after an emergency brake and thus put Rapid further in trouble.
Feldhofer reacted and took Greil off the field and brought on Leopold Querfeld to fill the hole in defense left by Wimmer (38′). In injury time in the first half, Druijf missed the equaliser, the Dutchman headed the ball into Büchel’s hands in a promising position after a Grüll cross (45’+3′). Then we went into the break with a shrill whistling concert.
Rapid offensive too harmless
In the second half, Vaduz cleverly kept the ball and opponents away from their own goal and created chances themselves. Fabio Fehr failed with the best alone in front of Hedl, who prevented the 0:2 with a strong save (53rd). The Rapidlers’ offensive efforts went mainly through Demir, whose long-range shots didn’t find their way into the goal (59′, 65′).
Feldhofer tried to get fresh impetus from the bench and brought on Bernhard Zimmermann and Nicolas Kühn for Druijf and Demir. Kühn found the free Kerschbaum in the penalty area, but his shot was blocked (72′). After that there weren’t any more chances. At Vaduz, Sutter and Omerovic also played in the second half and were able to celebrate the sensation appropriately. After Koper from Slovenia and Konyaspor from Turkey, Rapid is now also on the “hit list”.
Comments on the game:
Ferdinand Feldhofer (Rapid-Trainer): “It’s not about the attitude. We started the game very well but didn’t manage to take the lead. We made two mistakes that were crucial to the match. They were punished very harshly. You shouldn’t do that so easily. And we couldn’t take our chances. When you’re outnumbered, it’s normal not to get a lot of chances. It’s extremely painful, we’re very disappointed because the bottom line is that we deservedly got eliminated after two games.”
Kevin Wimmer (Rapid Defender): “What to say? The first leg was an absolute disaster. And we have planned so much today, it was far too little from the start. We’re playing at home against a Swiss second division team, that’s just not enough. The red card was very bad for the course of the game, but right from the start you had the impression that we couldn’t build up enough pressure. Simply disappointing. Vaduz mainly defended and actually never got into big trouble. The plan was certainly good, but the players are responsible.”
Kristijan Dobras (Vaduz player): “It’s been (in qualifying, note) six incredible games from us. It’s difficult to look at when you start at Rapid. We created the sensation, we wrote history. We can be happy about that.”
UEFA Europa Conference League play-off second leg
Thursday:
Rapid – FC Vaduz 0:1 (0:1)
Vienna, Allianz Stadium, 15,100 spectators, SR Obrenovic (SLO)
Tor:
0:1 Cicek (22.)
Rapid: Hedl – Schick, Hofmann (46. Moormann), K. Wimmer, Auer – Kerschbaum (85. Pejic) – Demir (66. Kühn), Burgstaller, Greil (38. Querfeld), Grüll – Druijf (66. Zimmermann)
Vaduz: Büchel – Gasser, Isik, Traber – Ulrich, Dobras (73 Fosso), Gajic, Fehr (66 Goelzer) – Hasler (80 Djokic) – Sasere (80 Omerovic), Cicek (46 Sutter)
Red card: K. Wimmer (35th/emergency brake)
Yellow cards: Hofmann, Schick, Kerschbaum, Querfeld and Cicek, Sasere, Sutter
The best: none or Isik, Gajic
First leg: 1-1 – Vaduz with a total score of 2-1 in the group stage
