Rapid Wien and Sturm Graz traded a goal each before the home side finished with a 3-1 victory.
After being eliminated from the European competition playoffs, Rapid Wien needed to show a response that would keep its title challenge going.
The result becomes clearer when considering how the early penalty, the loss of possession in midfield, and the second-half substitution unfolded.
3-Line Summary
1. Rapid Wien defeated Sturm Graz 3-1.
2. After the score became 2-1, Dal decided the match in the 86th minute.
3. A return to the top and a first league defeat were at stake.
A 7th-Minute Penalty and Another Goal in the 17th Minute After the Equalizer
Although these were keywords observed in the German search market, they do not indicate the location of the match. According to a report by Kronen Zeitung, the game was played at Allianz Stadion in Vienna, in front of 24,689 spectators. Rapid Wien defeated Sturm Graz 3-1 at home.
The action developed quickly from the start. Around 2 minutes 30 seconds, following a long pass from Serge-Philippe Raux, Mory Haïdara went down in the penalty area, and referee Stefan Ebner awarded a penalty. The decision stood even after approximately 4 minutes of video review. Yusuf Demir converted the penalty in the 7th minute to put Rapid Wien ahead first.
Sturm Graz soon restored the balance. Belmin Beganovic finished off a ball played by Simon Seidl. Kronen Zeitung’s match record listed the goal as coming in the 10th minute. Because it was an early equalizer, Rapid Wien’s penalty-kick lead did not immediately determine the entire match.
Rapid Wien went ahead again. When Jakob Peltier-Hödl lost the ball in midfield, Marco Tilio won it back. Tilio then finished against Sturm Graz goalkeeper Amar Helac after receiving a pass from Tony Adamsen, making it 2-1 in the 17th minute. It was a sequence in which the loss of possession immediately after the equalizer led to another change in the lead.
Threats continued in front of both goals during the first half. After Tilio’s shot, Adamsen’s follow-up effort went over the goal, while Haïdara’s shot also missed the near post. For Sturm Graz, Simon Seidl shot from a good position but failed to score. There was also a dangerous moment when Rapid Wien goalkeeper Niklas Hedl was struck by a ball from Raux-Yao, but Hedl caught it in front of the goal line.
Sturm’s Second-Half Response and Dal’s Finish After the 76th-Minute Scare
In the second half, Sturm Graz appeared capable of changing the flow of the match. Kronen Zeitung reported that the visitors created several chances, particularly with long-range shots. Rapid Wien held a one-goal lead, but there was clearly a period when Sturm Graz could pursue an equalizer.
Rapid Wien also raised the intensity of its attacks again. In the 76th minute, Paul Koller came close to a third goal when he dealt with Haïdara’s powerful cross by sending it over the top of his own goal and crossbar. It was not a goal, but the moment showed that Rapid Wien did not simply surrender the momentum that could have shifted toward Sturm Graz in the second half.
The player who settled the match was substitute Noah Dal. Dal came on for Tilio in the 61st minute and, in the 86th minute, broke forward individually before shooting into the far corner. The goal made the score 3-1. While the first two goals came from the rapid exchanges early in the match, the third was a finish by a substitute after Rapid Wien withstood the second-half pressure.
Late in the match, Sturm Graz’s Albert Vallci was sent off while preventing a scoring opportunity for Erçan Kara. Sturm Graz finished the game at a numerical disadvantage. The result therefore reads as more than a victory in which Rapid Wien merely protected an early lead: it was a win in which the team regained the lead after the equalizer, weathered the second-half response, and then extended the gap.
A Return to the Top with 4 Wins in 4 Matches and the Seidl Brothers’ Pre-Match Story
Kronen Zeitung reported that Rapid Wien recorded 4 wins in 4 matches with this victory. Rapid Wien returned to 1st place with a goal-better goal difference than LASK. For Sturm Graz, this was the season’s first official league defeat.
The same report said Sturm Graz was 7 points behind the two teams at the top, Rapid Wien and LASK, in terms of points lost. This figure does not determine the final standings for the entire season, but it shows that the 3 points from one match affected both the title race and the pursuit dynamic.
Before the match, ORF reported that Rapid Wien’s Matthias Seidl was approaching his 100th appearance in the league. His younger brother, Simon Seidl, was playing for Sturm Graz. Regarding the matchup between the brothers, Matthias Seidl said, in substance, that “you always want to beat your brother.” This was a pre-match remark and should be distinguished from the result of the game.
In the actual match, Simon Seidl started and assisted Beganovic’s equalizer. Matthias Seidl began on the bench and was introduced in the 73rd minute. The brothers’ matchup was one of the points of interest in the game, but the decisive flow came through Demir’s penalty, Tilio’s goal after Hödl’s loss of possession, and Dal’s second-half substitute goal.
References
Tags #RapidWien #SturmGraz #RapidWien #SturmGraz #RapidWienSturmGraz #AustrianBundesliga #AllianzStadion #NoahDal #YusufDemir #MarcoTilio #BelminBeganovic #MatthiasSeidl #SimonSeidl
For token verification: 86, 17, 4689, 30, 10, 76, 61, 100, 73.