ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 19 Reviews

SK Rapid Wien 1-2 FC Red Bull Salzburg

The Austrian Bundesliga’s two-month winter break ended with record champions Rapid Vienna taking on runaway leaders Red Bull Salzburg on Friday night. The Red Bulls, who came into this game on a nine-match unbeaten streak against the Green & Whites, initially fell behind to Filip Stojkovic’s header, before second-half strikes from Brenden Aaronson and Noah Okafor turned the game on its head. Matthias Jaissle’s charges have now scored in 20 consecutive away league clashes – a run that started under predecessor Jesse Marsch – and remain 14 points clear at the summit ahead of their Champions League showdown with Bayern Munich in midweek. Rapid Vienna, meanwhile, stay fifth by the faintest of margins and are not yet guaranteed a place in the Championship Round. They will host Dutch side Vitesse in the UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round on Thursday.

RZ Pellets WAC 2-1 SV Guntamatic Ried

Full-back Michael Novak made his long-awaited return to the football pitch after overcoming an auto-immune disease, as Wolfsberg extended their unbeaten streak against Ried to nine games and qualified for the Championship Round with three games to spare. The Wolves took the lead through a fortuitous Matthias Gragger own goal in the 10^th minute, only for Ante Bajic to draw the Upper Austrian visitors level shortly before the interval. But Tai Baribo notched his ninth goal of the season – the first time he has scored in three consecutive Bundesliga matches – to seal the 2-1 victory for the Carinthian club, who have taken an incredible 25 points from their last 10 league outings. Ried have dropped out of the top six by virtue of their head-to-head record but are still very much in the mix with three rounds to go before the league splits.

WSG Tirol 2-2 SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz

Rasmus Højlund, a winter arrival from Danish giants FC Copenhagen, bagged a brace on his competitive debut for Sturm Graz as they continued their impressive record of never losing a Bundesliga game against WSG Tirol (W6 D2). The Tyrolean outfit opened the scoring through Raffael Behounek’s glancing header in the fifth minute, but then Højlund struck either side of the interval – the first an arrowed shot into the far corner and the second a close-range tap-in – to turn the game upside down. Thomas Silberberger’s charges continued to battle hard, however, and were rewarded when substitute Stefan Skrbo headed in his first Bundesliga goal at the back post with just under 10 minutes to go. The leveller means Sturm Graz will have to wait to be sure of their Championship Round berth, while WSG are now seven points clear of the relegation place and still harbour faint hopes of making the top half.

CASHPOINT SCR Altach 0-2 FK Austria Wien

Altach’s struggles in front of goal continued – they were the only Bundesliga club that failed to score on Matchday 19 and their tally of 10 goals scored is by some distance the worst in the division – as they went down 2-0 to Championship Round-chasing Austria Vienna. Manfred Fischer opened the scoring with a goal against his former club in the 16^th minute, before Noah Ohio doubled the advantage with a nicely taken shot from outside the penalty area three minutes later. New Altach coach Ludovic Magnin, who was overseeing his first competitive match, has a major battle on his hands to keep the misfiring Vorarlbergers in the division this term. By contrast, his opposite number Manfred Schmid will be rather happy, having guided the Violets into the top half after a torrid start to the campaign.

TSV Egger Glas Hartberg 1-1 FC Flyeralarm Admira

Jan Vodhánl, who was brought in from Czech side Bohemians in the winter transfer window, opened the scoring for Admira on the stroke of half-time with a low free-kick that appeared to take stand-in Hartberg goalie Florian Faist by surprise. But Hartberg, fresh from the euphoria of reaching the ÖFB-Cup semi-finals last weekend, fought back and restored parity when visiting shot-stopper Andreas Leitner allowed Jürgen Heil’s shot to slip underneath his body and into the back of the net just after the hour mark. The leveller came as a major blow to the Lower Austrians, who are now winless in nine games and have not tasted victory for four and a half months. The Styrians, meanwhile, are in eighth place – two points adrift of Rapid, Austria and Ried, who are all level on 24 points – but arguably still in with an outside chance of repeating their 2020 achievement of qualifying for the Championship Round.

LASK 2-2 SK Austria Klagenfurt

They might have finished the Conference League group stages with the best record of any club (16 points), but LASK’s form in the Bundesliga this term has left a lot to be desired and their hopes of a place in the Championship Round were dealt another setback as promoted Austria Klagenfurt twice came back to snatch a draw. Marko Raguz broke the deadlock in the 15^th minute, only for Thorsten Mahrer to hit back with around a quarter of an hour remaining after Peter Michorl had been sent off for the hosts. And even though substitute Branko Jovicic re-established the lead three minutes later, a Turgay Gemicibasi penalty rescued a point for Peter Pacult’s side in stoppage time. The goalscorer was then dismissed for a cynical foul in the dying embers. LASK are ninth, three points adrift of the top six and with games against Salzburg and Wolfsberg still to come, while Austria Klagenfurt stay fourth and now have 26 points.