Christian Lichtenberger caused a celebration in the Grazer Merkur Arena in the 69th minute. The midfielder hit the right-hand corner directly from distance, and it was only in stoppage time that Beljo gained the spot after goalkeeper Jakob Meierhofer’s foul on Noah Bischof. Veteran Guido Burgstaller also scored in a very long stoppage time (15 minutes), but it was only offside.
The GAK, as the original team, are four points behind Cashpoint SCR Altach and WSG Tirol at half time of the regular round, which are in twelfth and tenth place with nine points each. After Sturm’s 2-1 win over LASK, Rapid are in second place, three points behind Graz.
GAK lose their first win
The “Red Jackets” had to settle for a 1-1 (0-0) home draw against Rapid on Sunday at the start of coach Rene Poms. A penalty goal from Dijon Beljo saved the visitors in stoppage time (93′).
Compared to the last game under predecessor Gernot Messner, Poms made only one change, and it was likely to be made under his predecessor: Petar Filipovic, who was suspended against Sturm, returned to the starting line-up. The GAK started ambitiously, a header from Lukas Graf flew just wide of the goal (5th).
GEPA/Hans Oberlaender
Lichtenberger gave the home team the lead with a precise shot
Lichtenberger takes the lead
Rapid took the lead after 20 minutes and came close to making it 1-0 several times. Burgstaller failed after a one-two with Beljo to GAK goalkeeper Meierhofer (22′). Benjamin Rosenberger blocked an attempt from Beljo onto his own crossbar (29th), and Burgstaller missed a promising spot (36th). Last but not least, a shot from Bendeguz Bolla (45th + 1) was unsuccessful.
Poms responded at half-time with a treble, and his side celebrated a 1-0 lead shortly after the restart. After a corner from Murat Satin, Milos Jovicic sent it onto the crossbar, Dominik Frieser sank the bouncing ball, but it was offside (47th). There was a break of several minutes due to heavy smoke as a result of the use of pyrotechnics, after which the game also sputtered without a climax – until the 69th minute. Lichtenberger was able to reach the ball unchallenged a good 20 meters in front of goal and scored through the inside bar.
Tired Viennese point them
Rapid looked tired three days after the 1-0 home win in the Conference League against FC Noah and could not find a suitable response for a long time. The only notable opportunity to equalize was Burgstaller’s shot from an acute angle that was blocked by Meierhofer (79′).
In stoppage time, however, Meierhofer hit substitute Bishop in the head during a save attempt, referee Daniel Pfister decided on a penalty after VAR consultation, which Beljo converted. In the 98th minute, Burgstaller even scored to make it 2-1 for Rapid, but it was only offside.
Voices about the game:
René Poms (Coach GAK): “We left everything in place. The team gave everything and had incredible energy on the pitch. We had two or three chances in the first half. But we gave it away too lightly; That’s somewhat logical, because when you invest so much in defense, you don’t have a bit of power up front. If you get the equalizer so late thanks to a VAR decision, it’s bittersweet, although you also have to say that Rapid had a chance or two before.”
Robert Klauss (Coach quick): “We are not completely satisfied with the game and the result. We came out of the poor locker room before the two halves. But even until we surrendered, we were not good. Now we have to live with the fact that we don’t deserve anything more here. We played a too complicated game so we often made the wrong decisions. As a result, we lost the ball unnecessarily, which hurt a lot. But if you are tired in your head, that can happen. We also have a lot of injured players and their quality would certainly benefit us today.”
Admiral Bundesliga, eleventh round
Sunday:
GAK – Quick 1:1 (0:0)
Graz, Merkur Arena, 9.069, SR Pfister
Torfolge:
1:0 Lichtenberger (69.)
1:1 Beljo (93./Elfmeter)
NO: Meierhofer – Jovicic, Filipovic, Graf – Frieser, Perchtold (46. M. Lang), Satin, Rosenberger – Lichtenberger (96. Dressel), Maderner (46. Vucic), Cheoukoua (46. Schriebl/81. Zaizen)
Quick: N. Hedl – Bolla, Cvetkovic, Raux-Yao, Auer – C. Lang (68. Sangare), Lu. Grgic (87. Wurmbrand), Kaygin (75. Bischof), M. Seidl – Burgstaller, Beljo
Yellow cards: Pechtold, Rosenberger, Meierhofer, Satin, Lichtenberger and Kaygin