SK Rapid Vienna

21 games – that’s how long SK Rapid has been waiting for a competitive win against Red Bull Salzburg.

On February 24, 2019, it was the last time that the Green-Whites were able to bring the “Bulls” to their knees in the Bundesliga.

The next defeat against Salzburg was added to the statistics on Saturday. In the Allianz Stadium in Vienna, Rapid lost 0-1 against Mozartstadt (match report >>>).

“It’s very annoying. There was more possible today,” explains Rapid head coach Robert Klauß after the game on “Sky”.

For the German it was the first defeat as coach of the Green-Whites since he took over. Even if the result wasn’t right, there are still some aspects that make him positive.

“We can’t blame ourselves for much in terms of performance”

“Basically, I agree with the performance. The boys played a good game, but we weren’t good enough to score one goal. We didn’t defend it well at one point and didn’t exploit our situations well enough,” said Klauß.

“The difference today was that they scored a set-piece goal,” says Marco Grüll angrily, but he also finds it difficult to find much negative: “In terms of performance, we can’t blame ourselves for much.”

We now have to look more closely at Salzburg and see how we can attract such a game to our own side in the future.

“Football is a results sport and Salzburg often doesn’t play well, but then wins the games. That’s how it was again today. We had more goals than them and they won 1-0. That’s what counts in the end,” says Grüll Rapid’s lack of cold-bloodedness compared to the top of the Bundesliga.

Rapid was missing an ounce of VAR luck

Matthias Seidl says: “We had more possession of the ball for large parts of the game and had better moves forward.” “There wasn’t much missing,” as Lukas Grgic adds.

This was also the case with the action that brought about the supposed 1:1. Guido Burgstaller actually pushed the ball over the line after Grüll’s cross, but his toe was offside – after a minute-long VAR check, the goal was ultimately revoked.

The fact that the check took so long also left Rapid coach Robert Klauß with question marks: “I said to the assistant on the side that if it takes so long, it actually has to be the same height.”

Unfortunately, the decision was in favor of the “Bulls” – and against his team: “They laid the line and in the end we are the ones who didn’t benefit from the VAR today. That little bit of luck was missing today.”

“…then you can’t talk about a good autumn”

Because of the lack of luck, the dog was often buried in the fall. “In terms of football, it was very good in many games,” says Grüll, looking back on the first 17 games of the Bundesliga season so far.

“If the results aren’t there, you can’t say that everything was positive. If the results had been there, it would have been a great autumn. But if you drop as many points as we did, you can’t speak of a good autumn “, the matter is clear for the Salzburger.

Now it’s time to keep our heads up and go into the winter break with a lot of enthusiasm – and use the time there to absorb the new coach’s principles even more.

“We haven’t been able to change that much in these few weeks,” said Seidl. “From January we will work properly and he will be able to implement his principles better. As a team, we are fully committed.”

Rapid against Salzburg: These duels were unforgettable