Already in midsummer Rapid has to tremble for the European Cup whereregardings. In the second leg of the third qualifying round for the Soccer Conference League on Thursday (8.30 p.m.), Ferdinand Feldhofer’s team wants to make up for the disappointing 2-1 loss in the first leg once morest Neftci Baku in order to keep their hopes of qualifying for the group stage alive.
The last 1-1 in the league once morest Austria Lustenau was not a moral injection, but Rapid continues to build on the home crowd and dosed risk in the showdown. “The situation hasn’t really changed. Now we let Neftci sit in the plane for a few hours, arrive and experience the change in climate zones. It will be a completely different game with our fans,” explained Ferdinand Feldhofer on Tuesday. “We’ll get some chances once more. It’s up to us how easy we make it for ourselves.” And: “I think the results show that they tend to have problems away from home.”
When asked whether Thursday’s game was the most important of his brief coaching tenure at Rapid, Feldhofer smiled away: “The importance is clear, we can’t afford a bad day.” The first leg result makes tactical games superfluous. “We don’t have to manage anything. We have to win the game by two goals if we don’t want to go to penalties – and we don’t want that,” said the Styrian. Risk assessment will be important on the way to the play-off. “We’re not going to go all-in in the first five minutes.”
As the last hurdle before the group stage, Rapid drew another feasible draw in the event of promotion with the Turkish representative Konyaspor or FC Vaduz from Liechtenstein. First, however, an opponent has to be eliminated, which Rapids Coach expects once more: “Good at set pieces, good at switching and if you let them kick, they really have quality.”
Fast counterattacks like in Baku should be nipped in the bud. “I think we’ll have more of the ball and then need good staggering to get into the pressing well.” Neftci saved his strength in the championship, Rapid’s match analysis is not very meaningful. “They rotated the entire team on Sunday.”
The suspended Aleksa Pejic is not available in midfield. He no longer has a similar type of player in the squad, said Feldhofer, but the young Nikolas Sattlberger, Moritz Oswald, Patrick Greil and possibly Roman Kerschbaum might be considered for the sixth position. Feldhofer revealed that the new signing might become an issue for the match squad like Yusuf Demir and Ferdy Druijff. He wanted to make a decision on this following the final training session on Wednesday.
The starting situation is comparable to that of four years ago: Back then, in the third qualifying round of the Europa League, following an away 1: 2 at Slovan Bratislava in Hütteldorf, it was either win or fly. A team coached by Goran Djuricin withstood the pressure (4-0). This was followed by promotion to the group stage with the advance to the sixteenth final. An early exit once morest the no-name squad from Azerbaijan would also hurt financially – Rapid have been represented in the group stage seven times in the past ten seasons.
(APA) / Image: GEPA
