Blow to title hopes in Vienna

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·5 May 2024

Blow to title hopes in Vienna

0-2 defeat to Rapid

We were unable to profit from Sturm Graz drawing 1-1, with a 0-2 defeat at Rapid Vienna on the 30th Matchday of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga. The loss leaves us four points behind Sturm with two matches still to play.

The hosts won due to an unnecessary penalty and a strange situation in the final phase - making for a very forgettable afternoon.

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Match summary

The first blow came before kick-off. Alex Schlager had to end his warm-up due to injury and Timo Horn made his competitive debut. He had little chance of preventing the two late goals.

Our clash with the Green and Whites had a slow start, with two long injury breaks disrupting the rhythm. Our two best chances came in a quarter of an hour during which we had an extra man with Rapid defender Querfeld off the pitch receiving treatment. Samson Baidoo sent a promising glancing header wide (18'), shortly before a Sucic shot from distance zipped just off-target (19'). When it was 11 v 11 once again, the game was disjointed, with small lapses of concentration making things difficult for our boys. After 30 minutes had been played, there was then a big penalty appeal! Strahinja Pavlovic was brought down by Querfeld on a solo charge and the referee Christian-Petru Ciochirca deemed the offence to have taken place just outside the box - it was an extremely close call that could have gone either way.

Despite our best efforts, it therefore remained goalless at the break. The second half then got off to a miserable start, with an unneccesary mistake putting us in a spot of bother and Gloukh's foul giving Rapid a penalty. Marco Grüll stepped up to the spot and put Rapid in front (51') in the first shot on target of the afternoon - and the only one for quite some time.

Five minutes later Grüll had the ball in the net again, but the goal was chalked off for offside. It was time to step up though after such a poor start to the second period. We adjusted and indeed stepped up a gear, only for another blow to come our way. Konate was brought down in the Viennese area when dribbling towards the target. We waited in vain for the award of a penalty with Rapid instead going on the break and Guido Burgstaller converting the quick attack to make it 2-0. The official checked the penalty appeal and a potential foul in the build-up on the screen but stuck with his original decision. There was just not a lot going our way in the away match. Individual errors and a lack of attacking edge, coupled with some very confusing refereeing decisions saw us beaten by Rapid for the first time in 20 encounters. A disappointment that we have to take on the chin.

Views

We were still fairly stable in the first half. Then we conceded two goals, and that was a real blow to us. Rapid got the better of the physical 50-50s today. We have to take a good look at our performance. We weren't incisive enough in attack, and we couldn't keep the Vienese in their own half. The good things we've done in the past few weeks were missing in the second half.

Onur Cinel

It is difficult to explain the way we have performed in recent weeks, but it is not a pleasant situation. Our mistakes are proving too costly. We don't seem to be at 100 percent, and we had some unlucky moments today. I don't want to comment on the referee's performance, but we didn't play at the level expected of us.

Strahinja Pavlovic

Line-up

Substitutions

Forson for Sucic (46'), Koita for Diambou (65'), Simic for Nene (65'), Gourna-Douath for Bidstrup (78')

Yellow cards

Oscar Gloukh (49' foul), Strahinja Pavlovic (90+6' foul)

Injury news

Not available for the match were Nicolas Capaldo (knee), Amar Dedic (calf), Fernando (thigh), Maurits Kjaergaard (thigh), Leandro Morgalla (recovering) and Andreas Ulmer (calf).