SK Rapid Wien is getting off to a successful start in the football year 2021!
The Hütteldorfer defeat Sturm Graz on Friday evening in the Bundesliga hit with 4: 1 (match report >>>) and can therefore not only look forward to an important win against a direct rival, but also to conquering the top of the Bundesliga table.
“It was an important win because we played against a very strong opponent,” said Rapid head coach Dietmar Kühbauer in an interview with “Sky” about the three points we achieved.
“Storm made it really difficult for us”
The fact that the green-whites actually win the Friday hit was hard to guess, especially with a closer look at the first half – even though Rapid took the lead in the 7th minute.
From then on, however, Sturm found a multitude of chances, only Rapid goalkeeper Richard Strebinger, who returned to the Vienna Bundesliga after an abstinence of three months, it was thanks to Sturm not after Jakob Jantscher’s equalizer could add even more hits.
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“Sturm played very well, especially in the first half, so maybe we were a bit too passive. They made it really difficult for us,” said Kühbauer. “We did a few things wrong at the start, we changed that. We didn’t attack much up front, that was the biggest problem.”
Kühbauer: “I like to coach this team”
It was thanks to Kühbauer’s changes in the half-time break that Rapid turned the tide in the second half and Sturm saw practically no more land in the second 45 minutes.
“But in the second half we changed a bit, got control and deserved to win. You could see that Sturm couldn’t pull the game up so well. We also got better in our game,” he said the head coach of the Viennese, whose contract with Rapid expires at the end of the season.
“I’m not saying anything more,” said Kühbauer. “I’m just happy that we played a good game against a strong opponent. We just want to play well, we did that a few times last year, and today we started to continue there.”
“I like to be a coach. I like to be the coach of this team. When you have games like today, you want to remain a coach,” said the Rapid coach.
Ljubicic “satisfied” with his comeback
Rapid captain Dejan Ljubicic also had a special day at work, who celebrated his comeback in competitive matches after being injured and, with Thorsten Schick’s assist to make it 2-1, also had his feet in the game.
“We played a good game. In the first half you could tell that Sturm had one more game than us. We did what the coach wanted from us. We are satisfied with our performance,” said Ljubicic.
But the captain also noticed that, especially at the beginning, things weren’t as easy as usual for him. “I needed something at the beginning, but then got into the game really well.”
Of course, Ljubicic is also very happy about the championship lead, but it is not more than a snapshot. “We still have a lot of games ahead of us, we are now concentrating on St. Pölten. We think from game to game, but of course it’s nice to be at the top.”
Text which: © LAOLA1.at
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