With the win in front of 22,300 spectators in the Allianz Stadium, Rapid also ended the most recent negative series in the Bundesliga: The Viennese celebrated their first competitive win after seven games and their first win against Sturm after ten unsuccessful attempts.
Thanks to the small revenge for the lost cup final, green and white moved up to fourth place in the master group. If this position is maintained in the final away match against Austria Klagenfurt on Saturday – a draw is enough for that – Rapid would be in the third qualifying round for the Conference League and would save themselves the European Cup play-off.
Rapid turns match against storm
Rapid turned around the home game against runner-up Sturm Graz and won 3-2 after being 2-0 down. This means that the Hütteldorfer are fourth in the table after the 31st and penultimate round of the Bundesliga.
Turn just before halftime
Graz, who were already runners-up, seemed to be heading for a win after goals from Manprit Sarkaria (10′) and Otar Kiteshvili (33′), but Guido Burgstaller (40′), Roman Kerschbaum (45’+4′) and Marco Grüll (66′) caused the turning point.
Before the game, Christoph Kasmüllner, Dejan Petrovic and Lion Schuster were officially dismissed – the expiring contracts of this trio were not renewed. Replacement goalie Paul Gartler received a new working paper for this until the end of 2024/25. However, Niklas Hedl was in goal again, who got fit in time after his shoulder problems.
Storm off to a good start
Rapid’s goalkeeper had to reach behind him for the first time in the tenth minute. After a bad pass from Aleksa Pejic, Kiteishvili put on for Sarkaria, who made it 1-0 for the visitors via the bottom of the bar. The ex-Austrian had already scored both goals for the Styrians in Sturm’s 2-0 win over Grün-Weiss in the cup final. Sturm stayed on the trigger, a long-range shot by Alexander Prass flew over the bar (26′).
Shortly thereafter, the “Blackys” increased to 2:0. Rapid’s defense lost an unfortunate figure with a throw-in, Kiteishvili fired just outside the box and the deflected shot rolled past the puzzled Hedl into the corner. In response, Block West chanted “We want to see Rapid” and the home side actually got into the game better.
Burgstaller leads the scorer list
Grüll brought the ball to the center and Burgstaller scored the connection goal from the turn. The striker netted in the eighth consecutive league match, something no one in the green-and-white jersey had done before. In addition, Burgstaller, who now leads the shooting list with 21 goals, scored in Hütteldorfer’s tenth compulsory home match in a row.
That goal had a hugely positive effect on Rapid. Moritz Oswald fired over from a good position before Kerschbaum made it 2-2 just before half-time. The midfielder headed in after a Grüll corner.
At the beginning of the second half, Rapid also looked dangerous from a standard situation – after a Grüll corner kick, a Burgstaller header was only centimeters short (52′). But Sturm also tried to find a way forward, and Hedl had to stretch after a header from Jan Gorenc Stankovic (58′). On the other side, Nicolas Kühn headed wide (64′). Rapid scored the decisive goal two minutes later. Burgstaller provided a worthwhile preparatory work for Grüll, who hit the far corner from the edge of the penalty area. In the end, Sturm fought doggedly to equalize, but the hosts managed to keep the lead over time.
Comments on the game:
Zoran Barisic (Rapid-Trainer): “I’m happy, but not satisfied. We got off to a bad start, wanted to solve everything in a playful way and made mistakes in the build-up. We were deservedly 2-0 down. We then made a small change in terms of room allocation and luckily went into the break 2-2. The energy was missing at the beginning, but then somehow – I don’t know why – it returned. In the second half we saw a better game from our team. It was a very difficult game for us, but we came back after going 2-0 down, so the team deserves a big compliment.”
Christian Ilzer (Sturm-Graz-Trainer): “The defeat is very annoying, especially the how. We lost focus and excitement after the lead. The fact that Rapid came up had something to do with us. The second half was even, but a point wouldn’t have been deserved because we gave up the lead like that. That must be a lesson for us. We must now investigate the causes and take the right messages with us for the rest of the journey. We saw again today that it will be difficult if we are not at 100 percent.”
Bundesliga, champion group, 31st round
Sunday:
Rapid – Sturm Graz 3:2 (2:2)
Vienna, Allianz Stadium, 22,300; SR Ebner
Torfolge:
0:1 Sarkaria (10.)
0:2 Kiteishvili (33.)
1: 2 Burgstaller (40th)
2:2 Cherry tree (45.+4)
3: 2 grunt (66th)
Rapid: Hedl – Schick (84./Koscelnik), Sollbauer, K. Wimmer, Auer – Kerschbaum (76./Druijf), M. Oswald (84./Greil), Pejic – Kühn (84./Bajic), Burgstaller, Grüll ( 92./Strunz)
Sturm: Okonkwo – Gazibegovic, Affengruber (77./Geyrhofer), Wüthrich, Schnegg (46./Dante) – Hierländer (77./Jantscher), Gorenc Stankovic, Kiteishvili, Prass (67./T. Horvat) – Sarkaria, Emegha
Yellow cards: Schick or Emegha, Gazibegovic, Gorenc Stankovic
The best: Burgstaller, Grüll, Oswald or Kiteishvili, Gorenc Stankovic