Quick 1-1 draw against Salzburg thanks to “Energizer” – football –

The pair encouraged the offensive game of the locals and meant big problems for the Salzburg team. Nobody wanted to score, but Kara served Christoph Knasmüllner in an exemplary way, who fixed the tie with a balloon in the 85th minute. “The substitutions were exactly the right thing to do. The two energizers gave the team energy and strength again and this gave them a flow, so I’m very happy, “said Kühbauer.

Surprisingly, the Rapid coach had benched his only forward and four-time league scorer at the start. “At first we wanted to have a faster team on the pitch and Ercan recently stopped transmitting the same presence as before,” Kühbauer explained. Demir has to fight to reach the starting eleven after overcoming an illness, but now he has once again indicated his enormous potential.

Not only was there praise for both of them, Kühbauer gave his team an “incredible compliment”. “Although we had two fewer days of regeneration, we looked fresher, which speaks to an incredible character and mentality of the team,” emphasized the Burgenlander. “That makes me incredibly happy.” He was also very pleased with the solid performance of Paul Gartler, who replaced Richard Strebinger as number one. “He is mentally strong, a good person, very intelligent and has not been wrong since he was in goal.”

Rapid battled to a 4-3 Europa League win against Dundalk on Thursday, while Salzburg were already beaten 6-2 on Tuesday against defending champion Bayern Munich in the Champions League after a good showing. Compared to the duel with the record champions of Germany, the offensive strength of the “Bulls” was less evident this time. Coach Jesse Marsch saw his team as “very strong” in the first half and “not bad” afterwards. “But we weren’t good enough for the goal,” said the American. Also, there was a mistake on defense that made the tie possible. “If we had been a little smarter, we could have won.”

The anger at the end of the winning streak on his 47th birthday of all things was limited. Also due to the strong resistance of the locals. “It must be said that Rapid played well. It was a great game, in terms of level one of the best games of my time in the league,” said the Salzburg manager. Therefore, 1: 1 is not a bad result. “We are still undefeated and leading the league, that’s good,” Marsch summed up.

His players weren’t really negative either. “The 1: 1 is fine, we can live with that,” said former Rapidler Maximilian Wöber. And veteran midfielder Zlatko Junuzovic added in view of the constellation in the table: “Better two points in front than one behind.”

That alone was a success for the Rapidler, as the loss would have increased the gap to five points. “We knew when they brought in the three grains that they would move a little further away. So the point was very important,” Knasmüllner explained. The international rift now comes at the right time, especially for Rapid. Marcel Ritzmaier can cure his illness, Filip Stojkovic can get used to playing in a hand cast. With that, the full-back should return to the field in the middle of the week.

It was still unclear how long Captain Dejan Ljubicic would have to take a break. The midfielder suffered an ankle ligament injury in a duel with Junuzovic. More detailed information should be available after an MRI exam on Monday. “It is a great loss because he is an important player,” Kühbauer said. Junuzovic assumed “zero intention” in action. The Salzburg man himself underlined this: “Unfortunately, he was very unhappy.”

By the way, he is one of the few Salzburg that does not travel to a national team these days. “We have been challenged physically and mentally in recent weeks. The break is good for us to come down,” said the 33-year-old. Wöber could only underline that. “With this game plan, I think now everyone is racing to the limit.” There is no rest for the 22-year-old as he continues to fight for the European Championship opportunity with the ÖFB-U21 in duels with Turkey and Andorra.