[ad_1]
Playfully too weak, too harmless in the end: Rapid loses 1: 2 to Belgian runner-up Ghent and thus fails qualifying mainly because of themselves.
Gentleman. The enemy was mistreated, he lacked self-confidence, he had practically no leader. And yet, in the end, Rapid got the final straw. The Viennese lost the Champions League qualifying match (third round) at KAA Gent 1: 2 and thus missed the play-off opportunity – no second leg matches will be played in the simplified Corona schedule of this year.
Bitter from a green and white point of view: The Belgians acted largely harmless, Rapid showed up at eye level at the Ghelamco Arena, orphaned due to the crown, even if the action leveled off at a playfully modest level.
In fact, the runner-up from Austria has left a great opportunity here. Gent, also a runner-up in the Belgian league, which was prematurely canceled due to Covid-19, finally came under pressure. After internal disputes, coach László Bölöni was only fired on Monday afternoon. Assistant coach Wim De Decker chimed in, but he too had joined the team in the summer.
The insecure Belgians had to seek their salvation on offense, failed, as expected, with the set-up for the game and gave Rapid numerous turnarounds. But all were left unused. At first the ideas were lacking, then the number of bad passes accumulated, people got confused (Kelvin Arase), missed from a distance (Taxiarchis Fountas) or just missed (Thomas Murg, Ercan Kara). Maximilian Ullmann showed self-confidence with a straightforward acceptance, but then promising free throws were again wasted (Murg).
Leo Greiml as a tragic figure
Only in this way could Gent midfielder Niklas Dorsch lead the hosts to the lead. The German beheaded completely alone (36º). Until then, the top attackers surrounding Roman Yaremtschuk, who had been kicked out of the starting lineup after criticizing former coach Bölöni, had hardly seen each other.
It was only after Gent’s leadership that things got complicated in Rapid’s penalty area. But with starting striker Jaremtschuk alone facing Rapid goalkeeper Richard Strebinger was unable to achieve anything (44th), it was Hütteldorfer themselves who sealed their own final. Fast 19-year-old Leo Greiml dropped Giorgi Chakvetadze in the 16th, with good luck Yaremchuk converted the penalty (59th) – 0: 2.
Important for Gent’s harmlessness: After Yusuf Demir scored the late goal (90 + 3), penalty sinner Greiml even found a chance to equalize, but headed unhindered next to goal (90 + 4).
Europa League consolation prize
The entry of five million euros for the Champions League playoff -especially in the days of Corona- more welcome than ever- now the Belgians, at the end of September play against Dynamo Kiev (2-0 against Alkmaar) for a place in the European queen category, then with a back leg.
Rapid, who were not a Champions League match in Ghent, will continue in the Europa League group stage in the autumn (draw on 2 October).
Quick: Strebinger; Stojkovic, Hofmann, Greiml; Arase (73. Demir), D. Ljubicic (86. Kitagawa), Petrovic (86. Grahovac), Ullmann; Murg, Fountas; Kara.
(Joe)
