2023-05-29 03:13:06
In the battle for final fourth place in the Bundesliga championship group, Rapid has put itself in a promising position. With the 3-2 home win over Sturm Graz on Sunday, a draw in the last round at Austria Klagenfurt on Saturday is enough for the Hütteldorfers to secure participation in the third qualifying round of the Conference League. Wiener Austria, on the other hand, has to win against champions Red Bull Salzburg and hope for Carinthian support.
Peter Pacult’s team is three points behind the favorites and has no chance of fifth place due to the lost direct duel. Nevertheless, Rapid coach Zoran Barisic at Wörthersee is prepared for tough resistance. “A very difficult game awaits us,” predicted the Viennese.
According to Barisic, a lot can still happen in the last lap. “You saw that in the German league. Everything was done for Dortmund and suddenly everything turned out differently.” Therefore, the 53-year-old promised that the team would concentrate and go on the offensive. “One point is enough for us, but we’re not designed like AS Roma, for example, who go to Leverkusen and get 0-0. We can’t do that. We want to win in Klagenfurt.”
The momentum speaks for Rapid, after all, a 0: 2 was converted into a 3: 2 against Sturm. The first victory after seven competitive games and at the same time after ten duels with the Styrians strengthened Barisic in his high opinion of the Rapid professionals. “If we do everything right, we can stand up to any opponent.”
However, “that little something” is still missing at the moment, the coach admitted. For example, more self-confidence would be desirable. “Now the question is how do I implant that in them. Unfortunately, I can’t go to the Billa and buy a few grams or 5 kilos of confidence.”
The appearance against Sturm should provide at least a portion of confidence. After a good half hour, with the guests leading 2-0, everything pointed to a victory for the Graz team. Rapid was only sixth at the time due to the scores in the parallel games. “I was only told that afterwards,” said Barisic.
Guido Burgstaller initiated the turnaround with his connecting goal in the 40th minute. “That brought us back into the game, suddenly another team was on the pitch,” reported Barisic. “The energy was missing at the beginning, but then somehow – I don’t know why – it returned.”
Due to the remarkable comeback, Rapid’s city rival Austria is an outsider in the race for fourth place after the 1: 3 at LASK. The “Violets”, on the other hand, certainly have a chance of an international starting place. Michael Wimmer’s team ends the season at least in fifth place, which means a place in the final of the national European Cup play-off.
“We’re not interested in what happens in the other places, we can’t influence that. We have to stay with us, we’re two points behind now. Anything is possible in football,” Wimmer hasn’t written off fourth place yet, puts the focus but entirely on the showdown with the already established master. “We’ve shown that we can beat teams like that. It’s a huge challenge. If it’s the case that we’re fifth at the end of the day, then we go into the play-offs and we have to reach our goal through the play-offs achieve,” explained the German.
The winner of the play-off semifinals, which WAC is playing against Austria Lustenau or TSV Hartberg, is waiting for the fifth in the master group.
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