Sturm saved a point on Saturday against Austria Klagenfurt with a 0-0 draw – and that after an hour outnumbered – and remained unbeaten after three games in the league. A strong morale boost for the second leg in the third qualifying round of the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday (8.30 p.m., live on ORF1) looks different. Against the Dutch, Grazer need the much-cited “miracle” after the 4-1 retrieval a week ago in the first leg.
Austria were also unable to boost their self-confidence for the second leg against Legia Warsaw in the third round of the Conference League qualifiers after losing 2-0 at defending champions Red Bull Salzburg. But at least the Violets go into the second leg on Thursday (7 p.m. live on ORF1) with a 2-1 lead. The 0-1 home defeat against Hartberg put a real damper on Rapid after they had previously drawn 0-0 against Debrecen in the Conference League.
Rapid’s rotation goes wrong
Before the second leg on Thursday (9 p.m., live on ORF1) in Hungary, Rapid’s rotation against Hartberg became a stumbling block. Coach Zoran Barisic had changed his team to five positions, but the new players failed to live up to expectations. “We were too imprecise in the passing game, didn’t play easily enough and made too many mistakes in the build-up game,” said the coach after the failed European Cup dress rehearsal.
A ball loss by Martin Moormann in the forward movement initiated the Hartberger winning goal by Christoph Urdl. “That was too cheap,” Barisic said angrily. “That shouldn’t happen to a top team. That’s why we have to work on becoming a top team.” Thorsten Schick agreed: “We conceded a stupid goal, and then unfortunately we spoil this good start to the season with a game like that.”
The full-back identified “juvenile carelessness”, but also saw a normal Bundesliga home game with a performance that you could bring between two European Cup games. “You just have to play the 0-0 lead home,” said Schick. After a flu epidemic in the team, Barisic was hoping for a squad that would soon be fit again. “We’re dealing with a summer flu virus that caused us problems,” said the Rapid coach.
Hartberg shows Rapid’s limits
SK Rapid Wien failed the dress rehearsal for the second leg of the Conference League qualifier against Debrecen. Goran Barisic’s team lost 1-0 (0-0) to TSV Hartberg in the third round of the Admiral Bundesliga on Sunday in front of a home crowd at the Allianz Stadium.
Storm seeks the energy
For Sturm Graz, too, the appearance in the third round matched a botched week. With the zero number against Austria Klagenfurt, the Grazers lost points for the first time and somewhat the connection to the still flawless Salzburgers. The fact that David Schnegg saw the red card from Graz didn’t make it any easier for the runner-up in midsummer temperatures. “We didn’t expect to be short for 60 minutes in our program,” was how Sturm coach Christian Ilzer summed it up.
Four days after the defeat in Eindhoven and three days before the second leg, the Grazers were initially dominant, but with the attacking duo Szymon Wlodarczyk and Bryan Teixeira without penetration. Ilzer missed “speed” in his team, which was literally slowed down by Schnegg’s prevention of a goal chance with the following red (33rd). “The exclusion was unnecessary. Not only by Schneggi, it wasn’t well defended either,” said defender Gregory Wüthrich, who was generally “very disappointed” and missed the energy in the game, especially before the break.”
Storm lets ten feathers for the first time
Four days after the 4-1 defeat at PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League qualifier, SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz also lost feathers in the Admiral Bundesliga for the first time.
At least Ilzer could see “good mental learning during the game” in his players. “From the 60th minute we finally felt that we could run away one man less and generate the energy with our spectators to win this game even with a man down.” A similarly harmonious interaction will also be needed against Eindhoven, to get at least respectably out of the affair. “There is always hope in football,” said Tomi Horvat. “We give our maximum and hope that we win.”
Austria feels stress
After a hard but completely fruitless performance, Austria was only able to congratulate the victorious Salzburgers. “The grapes in Salzburg hang high. They were clearly better today, a well-deserved winner. For us, it’s time to clean up and keep going,” said coach Michael Wimmer after the second defeat in the third game. However, the German did not want to know that this was overrated. “You have to put things into perspective, the defeats happened against Sturm and Salzburg,” he said. In any case, there is room for improvement. “It certainly wasn’t that exciting.”
Salzburg’s vest remains white against Austria
Amankwah Forson and Karim Konate have ensured that Red Bull Salzburg’s vest is white even after three rounds in the Admiral Bundesliga. The 20-year-old Ghanaian and his 19-year-old team-mate from the Ivory Coast led the “Bulls” to a secure 2-0 (0-0) win over Vienna’s Austria.
His team struggled with physical wear and tear after appearances in the Cup, European Cup and League. “It was the seventh game in three weeks, but we knew that too, and that’s what we wanted,” said Wimmer. “After the many games in the last few weeks, you noticed the tiredness after 20, 25 minutes. It shouldn’t be an excuse, but the body just doesn’t regenerate that quickly,” confirmed Andreas Gruber.
Violet must now make good use of the little time until the second leg against Legia. “We want to keep the rhythm now, regenerate well and defend our pole position (the 2-1 from the first leg, note) with our fantastic fans behind us,” said a confident Wimmer with regard to Thursday.
