The journey of SK Rapid in the European Cup ends after a deserved 0:2 defeat against Vitesse Arnheim. Despite winning 2:1 in Vienna, the “Green-Whites” could not build on their first half performance in the first leg and had to bury their dreams of reaching the last 16.
Rapid’s dream of reaching the last 16 of the European Cup for the first time since 1997 did not come true. The Hütteldorf side were unable to capitalise on their good starting position on Thursday, conceding a deserved 2-0 defeat at Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League round of 16 second leg and still losing out. Two parts of a triple burden have thus been dropped early in the spring, after they had already failed in the quarter-finals of the ÖFB-Cup.
“The disappointment is huge, it hurts a lot, everyone is pretty down. With this performance we simply didn’t deserve to make it to the last 16,” Rapid coach Ferdinand Feldhofer had to admit. Ex-Rapid player Adrian Grbic, of all people, made the visitors’ false start perfect after just three minutes, Matus Bero (19th) scored the decisive goal a little later. Both times the Dutch had far too much space, the positional play in the defence was not right at all, and Eli Dasa was able to initiate the goals with his passes.
“That was just nothing “
“If you get goals like that at the back, you have nothing to lose in the last 16,” Feldhofer knew. His idea to go for a three-man backline didn’t work at all, the uncertainty was palpable at least throughout the first half. “We didn’t have that freshness, that physical presence to stand up to the opponent in the duels. When you see the goals we conceded, it has very little to do with tactics. You simply have to secure the space, defend better,” explained the 42-year-old.
The players were self-critical after a similar opening phase as in Vienna, only this time the Dutch were better and managed an early double strike, but were also partly at a loss. “We put ourselves in such a good position and throw it away after three minutes. That was simply nothing,” said centre-back Kevin Wimmer. And attacking player Marco Grüll added: “We slept through the first half, did everything wrong that you can do wrong, messed it up there. “
In addition, there was absolute harmlessness on the offensive, only one (top) chance by Rapid in 95 minutes through Robert Ljubicic (18th) speaks volumes. “It got better in the second half, but we didn’t have the penetrating power to create chances,” Feldhofer was aware. The fact that Vitesse fans had set off fireworks outside Rapids’ team hotel after midnight the day before the match was irrelevant, he said. “I slept like a baby and didn’t notice a thing,” said right-back Thorsten Schick.
The lack of experience, on the other hand, was very much a factor, which Feldhofer also mentioned. Rapids’ starting eleven had an average age of 23.4 years, and five players are still eligible to play for the Austrian Under-21 national team. “The players were not used to such a backdrop for a long time, we let ourselves be too impressed by the atmosphere at the beginning. And we have many who have never had such a decisive game in the European Cup, so we took a bit of a toll.”
Goalie Niklas Hedl was not to blame for the elimination on his European Cup debut. The 20-year-old was preferred to Paul Gartler, who is not yet fully fit. Schick made his comeback earlier than planned, also due to a lack of good alternatives. “The personnel situation is known. I know that some players would need a break, but this question does not arise,” said Feldhofer. Five absentees are making life difficult for him at the moment, and Jonas Auer is now also out with an injury.
Focus on league play
Positive for that is that Philipp Schobesberger played for the professionals for the first time since 9 November 2019, starting in the 81st minute. Feldhofer described the 28-year-old as a serious alternative, but it will still take time before he makes an appearance in the starting eleven. That on Sunday at WSG Tirol will not look much different than on Thursday. “We don’t have many options to rotate,” Feldhofer said. But we still need three points to avoid a third major setback within a short period of time by missing out on the championship group.
That would also have financial consequences due to significantly lower spectator income. Valuable money was also left lying around on Thursday. An additional 600,000 euros would have been paid out in bonuses for the round of 16. “We must not fall into self-pity now,” Schick stressed. And Wimmer said: “We have to question ourselves, but then shake quickly because we need the three points in Tyrol. “
