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“You have to say we were the best team,” captain Dejan Ljubicic said. His coach Dietmar Kühbauer saw things in a similar way. “I think we were the best team, but that doesn’t mean you have to be promoted automatically,” said the coach. “The assessment of the possibilities did not work well today. Otherwise, I can’t blame my team. “
Rapid also stumbled in the intense encounter. With 0: 1, a header from Niklas Dorsch (36th), the green and white back row team were not really up to date. And before the 0: 2 – a penalty happily converted by Roman Yaremchuk (59th) – Leo Greiml launched an unnecessary attack on the opponent.
“We take everything”
Nothing resulted from the third participation in the Champions League after 1996/97 and 2005/06. Rapid now go to the previously scheduled group stage of the Europa League and take a € 3 million buy-in. The draw will take place on October 2, the opening round is scheduled for October 22.
“All the players want to play the Champions League once. But we put everything into it so we can’t blame ourselves and at least we have the Europa League now, ”said Ljubicic.
Lack of determination
The Belgian runner-up seemed beatable. After a poor start to the season with four losses in five games and a manager change the day before the game, Gent was clearly looking for security and coordination at the beginning. After six minutes, Rapid had already knocked on the door three times.
Therefore, Kühbauer lost precision and determination after the game. “If he scores two or three goals, Ghent can do whatever he wants,” said the Burgenlander and gave the more mature opponent a little punch: “They weren’t really up front in the game.”
“I failed by ourselves”
Kühbauer tried to make up for the 2-0 with new tactics. “With the system change, we were able to build up even more pressure, we had good shooting opportunities and we failed on our own.” ). Kühbauer’s CV after the game: “Now we are going home and although we know we played a good game, we can’t buy anything.”
The Belgians, on the other hand, received an additional five million euros for reaching the play-off. With a quick victory, the Viennese would have reunited with Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu. The now 75-year-old coached Shakhtar Donetsk in the final Rapids play-offs in 2015/16 and now would have waited with Dynamo Kiev (2-0 against Alkmaar) in the final qualifying round.
