Austria, on the other hand, was able to increase their self-confidence again before a very difficult week. On Thursday we need to get a better result against Villarreal in the Europa Conference League than the 0:5 in Spain. Red Bull Salzburg comes to the Generali Arena on Sunday. After the 0:3 against Puntigamer Sturm Graz and the swatter in the European Cup, the derby success came at the best time. “After we clearly lost the last few games, that little bit satisfies the soul and was very important for the head,” Fitz said.
Coach Manfred Schmid was also fully aware of this. “It was a really great day for the team, they deserved it after the two ‘watschn’. When they got up, fought and played, I can only take my hat off to them. The win will help us a lot for the next few weeks,” said the 51-year-old from Vienna. A “safe support” was goalie Christian Früchtl, who was able to distinguish himself several times. Marvin Martins and Andreas Gruber were new in the starting eleven compared to the Villarreal match, especially since they are fit again.
Austria made it 2-0 with a penalty
Dominik Fitz made it 2-0 for the guests from favorites with a penalty.
Otherwise Schmid made no changes and was right with this tactic. Despite the double burden, his players are in good physical condition. “You don’t notice much of a difference if we played three days ago or seven days ago,” Fitz said. You always regenerate very well after the missions. The victory was celebrated with the fans beforehand. The Austrians ran several times in the direction of the fan curve and made the wave. “There’s nothing like celebrating with the fans after a derby win,” Fitz said.
Rapid sleeps through the first half
Rapid struggled with a sleepy first half. “That mustn’t happen to us,” said Ante Bajic, who scored the late goal (91st). The back team looked bad both when Muharem Huskovic made it 0-1 (4th) and before Fitz scored from the penalty spot (17th) after a foul by Martin Koscelnik. “It just wasn’t enough in every respect, especially in the first half. We made it too easy for Austria. The two goals were absolute gifts”, said the captain Maximilian Hofmann, who was exchanged at the break.
Rapid could have equalized through Ferdy Druijf in the meantime, but otherwise almost owed everything before the break. No aggressiveness, hardly any ideas in the game forward, little movement went through the rapid game. The defense always had a lot of trouble with the fast offensive players of the favorites. And that after the Rapiders had been able to prepare for the prestige duel in peace for a week.
Feldhofer therefore seemed a bit perplexed at the press conference. “We’re not solid enough to see our plan through an entire game. That’s the conclusion I can draw,” said the Rapid coach. He didn’t want to get involved in a squad discussion. The criticism of his person will now increase again after one had hoped that the 5-0 win at WSG Tirol last week was an initial spark.
Home misery annoys Feldhofer “excessively”
Instead, the home misery continued. Only four points could be collected in five games in front of their own audience. “I think we all like playing in our stadium, but the opponents are also happy when they can play here. It’s a shame for our fans and it annoys us immensely,” said the 42-year-old from Styria. Another record is even more bitter, against Austria they failed to win on the tenth attempt in the Allianz Stadium. “It hurts not to win again in your own stadium,” said Hofmann.
At the latest at the next attempt, the spell should finally be broken. “We’ll get another chance and then we’ll hit back,” assured striker Bernhard Zimmermann. This requires improvement in some areas. Rapid has been waiting for a derby success since September 1, 2019. The local rivals celebrated their first triumph in a direct duel since the 6-1 home win on December 16, 2018.
