The Viennese won 3-0 (1-0) at the Allianz stadium on Sunday and improved to third place in the standings. The gap with the second Sturm Graz is three points.

Former Rieder Marco Grüll put Rapid ahead with his second goal of the season five minutes before halftime. The striker had only moved from Innviertel to Vienna-Hütteldorf during the summer break. Center point Ercan Kara increased in the 72nd minute and thus secured the preliminary decision. In the final phase, Ried could not do anything, Robert Ljubicic (81st) put the finishing touches on his league debut for Rapid after the expiration of his suspension.

The Rapidlers were the most active team from the start. Less than 50 seconds were played when a cross from Ullmann found Kara in the penalty area, whose header was cleared by Samuel Sahin-Radlinger for a corner kick. In the 13th minute, Kara recovered with a header from a right corner, and again Sahin-Radlinger steered the ball over the bar into Rieder Tor.

The “Vikings” showed in the first quarter of an hour and beyond why they are in the top half of the table under Andreas Heraf. The coach with a quick past as a player instilled tactical discipline and defensive skills in his men. Guests were practically non-existent in the offensive, but the green-whites initially lacked resources.

Maximilian Ullmann retired from outside the penalty area after just under half an hour, and Christoph Knasmüllner slipped in a little later. Grüll finally broke the spell after an acrobatic Ljubicic header in the fall – Sahin-Radlinger was helpless. At the first opportunity after the break Thorsten Schick narrowly retired and Sahin-Radlinger had to intervene again when a Ullmann overlap occurred.

On the other side, Richard Strebinger defused a double chance from Rieder in the 59th minute and was then briefly examined on the pitch by club doctor Benno Zifko. The quick keeper probably injured his left shoulder. In the 63rd minute, he gave way to substitute Paul Gartler.

When the game threatened to ripple a bit, Kara made it 2-0 with a volley that jumped. The also substituted Taxiarchis Fountas did the preparatory work with a measuring flank. Ljubicic then scored from the left and crowned his fine performance in the central defensive midfielder.

Reactions

Andreas Heraf (Ried-Coach): “In the end, we have to congratulate Rapid. But I am very, very proud of the performance of my team. We managed to fend off the Rapid. They then had to act with long balls, that was our goal. We could have scored 1-1 with the double chance, but unfortunately we didn’t. Unfortunately we ran into a counterattack due to an individual error and Rapid took the opportunity to bring the score to 2-0. Then it was actually over. “

Dietmar Kühbauer (fast trainer): “The guys did really well today. They defended really well, didn’t give them a chance for almost 90 minutes and played quite a bit up front. The tension was very high, but they handled the game. can play even better. clear. But considering all of the build so far, it was a good performance for me. 3-0 for the fourth time in a row – that’s good for us. But the important thing is that there are three points. “

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