“We bit, we fought, but that wasn’t our best game in terms of play,” said Guido Burgstaller, who kept the dream alive with his two goals (45’+2′, 83′) against the Upper Austrians. “Finale” chants from the supporters could still be heard well after midnight in Vienna-Hütteldorf.
The fact that the rise against a strong Rieder team only worked “with a stomach ache”, as sports director Markuskatzer put it, played no role in the general feeling of happiness. “By and large, it doesn’t give a shit now. We’re through, we’ve made it,” summed up Burgstaller, who now has three cup goals this season.
Burgstaller heaves Rapid into the final
Rapid Wien made it to the final of the Uniqa ÖFB Cup on Wednesday. The Viennese defeated SV Ried in the semi-finals 2-1 (1-0). The green-white match winner was Guido Burgstaller, who scored both goals (45+2, 83).
“Of course we’re all happy. I think it was almost nothing in terms of play in the first half. We actually had exactly one chance to score, and we took advantage of it,” said Marco Grüll, summing up the first half in front of 21,600 spectators in the Allianz Stadium. In added time, Salzburg provided the assist to make it 1-0, with Burgstaller demonstrating his goal-getting qualities for the first time that evening.
“Have found few playful means”
“Ried did that very well. Especially when playing against the ball. They ran up to us and pushed us up. We didn’t find a lot of playful means to finish the actions,” analyzed coach Zoran Barisic. “In terms of combat readiness, in terms of energy,” he didn’t want to blame his team. “You could tell that we were a bit nervous. The last few games didn’t work out the way we imagined. At home, everyone expected us to progress there,” said Burgstaller.
The Carinthian will celebrate his 34th birthday one day before the cup final. Despite this age, the attacker, who was born in Villach, is currently the most dangerous and probably the most important player at Rapid. In addition to Burgstaller’s nose for goals, the sprint strength that decreased with age also played an important role in the 2-0 win. “I didn’t want to go into a running duel,” he explained. “So I was happy that the Sami (Samuel Sahin-Radlinger, note) was well in front of the goal. Then the first thought was that I would lift or try a lift.”
Draw strength from defeat
Last year’s cup finalist Ried now has to devote himself to day-to-day business in the Bundesliga and the associated relegation battle. “We’re so close that we made it 2-2 in the last minute,” said coach Maximilian Senft after the final whistle about Tin Plavotic’s missed opportunity shortly before the end of the game. However, his team’s performance made him very positive about the next task in the championship against Hartberg on Saturday. “Nevertheless, I also believe that we draw strength from it,” said the 33-year-old coach of the bottom team.