Excitement is guaranteed in the second leg next Thursday (9 p.m., live on ORF1) in Debrecen. “Everything is still inside for both of them. But it would have been exciting if we had won,” said coach Zoran Barisic. Attacker Marco Grüll mourned a better starting position, but was combative: “Then we have to make it clear next week and make better use of the chances we get.”
The poor exploitation of opportunities mentioned by Grüll was Rapid’s undoing, especially in the first 45 minutes. The Hütteldorfer found numerous opportunities, but lacked the necessary coolness in front of goal. “We had a clear chance in the first half, so we have to take the lead. Then it would have been easier for us,” emphasized Grüll, who himself missed two good opportunities. Barisic identified a “good first half” for his team, which simply lacked determination.
Huge chance for Nicolas Kühn (58th minute)
Good pass through the middle to Nicolas Kühn, but his finish is too weak.
Weak second half and lucky in the finish
In the second half of the game, however, the performance of the green-whites flattened out, only a too central shot by Nicolas Kühn still radiated the hint of danger. “We made too many technical mistakes and often didn’t find the right teammate. Little things were missing to become dangerous in the last zone, ”analyzed Barisic.
GEPA/Philipp Brem Coach Zoran Barisic’s team missed the good starting position they had hoped for
Small things, and only a few centimeters, Debrecen missed twice to score a goal. The Hungarians didn’t find the plethora of chances that Rapid did, but they did have the highest caliber. Both a free-kick from captain Balazs Dzsudzsak (20′) and a shot from Alexandros Kyziridis from a central position (80′) saved aluminum for green-white. Debrecen felt closer to scoring the winning goal in the closing stages, as Roman Kerschbaum confirmed: “Towards the end of the game we lost touch and it got a bit dicey. It’s a very strong opponent. Not conceding a goal, that’s also important, of course. Of course everything is open for the second leg.”
“Have to up the ante”
In the second leg, according to the veteran, Rapid will “have to go one step further” to make it into the play-off against the top Italian club and last year’s finalists Fiorentina. “If we play our game, I’m convinced that we’ll progress,” added Kerschbaum confidently. Barisic wants to win the second leg with the usual motto. “We remain offensively oriented. It’s our way of thinking to act like that,” said the coach. Before the guest appearance in Debrecen, the Green-Whites have to extend the good start of the Bundesliga season in the home game against Hartberg on Sunday.
Conference League Qualifier, Third Round 1st Leg
Thursday:
Rapid Wien – Debrecen VSC 0:0
Allianz Stadion, 17.200; SR Hennessy (IRL)
Rapid: Hedl – Schick, Querfeld, Cvetkovic, Auer – Sattlberger (69th / Greil), Kerschbaum – Kühn (81st / Strunz), Seidl (81st / Mayulu), Grüll (89th / Bajic) – Burgstaller
Debrecen: Megyeri – Kusnyir, Dreskovic, Romanchuk, Manrique – Lagator, Loncar (92./Mojzis) – Szecsi (61./Domingues), Dzuzjak (92./Varga), Oliveira (71./Kyziridis) – Babunski (71./Barany )
Yellow cards: Querfeld, Seidl, Cvetkovic, Kerschbaum and Oliveira
Second leg on August 17 (9 p.m., live on ORF1) in Debrecen