SK Rapid Wien 1-0 CASHPOINT SCR Altach
Rapid Vienna marked Steffen Hofmann’s debut in the dugout as interim boss with a narrow home victory against Altach. The win – sealed by Filip Stojkovic’s first Bundesliga goal on his 60th appearance in the competition – moved the Green & Whites up two places in the table to fifth and condemned the Vorarlbergers to bottom spot for the first time this season. Their superior stats in terms of shots (19-10), possession (71%) and passes completed (87%-66%) suggest it was a deserved win for the Hütteldorf outfit, even if Altach did win more of the challenges (54%). Damir Canadi’s charges, who have by far the worst attacking record in the division and have yet to hit double figures for the season (only nine goals scored), have found the net only two times in their past seven matches and, with two of the league’s top three teams to come before the Christmas break, surely have a tough winter ahead.
FC Red Bull Salzburg 0-0 FC Flyeralarm Admira
Red Bull Salzburg dropped points for only the third time this season in a goalless draw with bogey side Admira Wacker. The Red Bulls dominated every statistical metric but the goal simply would not come, with Brenden Aaronson spurning a gilt-edged chance and Rasmus Kristensen having a goal disallowed. It was the first time they have failed to win a league home game this season and the first time they have failed to find the net at home since drawing 0-0 with Sturm Graz in March 2019, meaning that their record-breaking 43-game scoring run at home has finally come to an end. But despite being held to a stalemate, Matthias Jaissle’s side still managed to extend their lead at the summit to 15 points after their two closest challengers both dropped points too. Meanwhile, Andreas Herzog’s Admira team picked up a precious point but still moved down to 10th on account of results elsewhere.
SV Guntamatic Ried 1-0 TSV Egger Glas Hartberg
Ried marked the passing of their legendary former coach Paul Gludovatz, who guided the club to their second and most recent ÖFB Cup triumph a little over a decade ago, with a slender 1-0 victory against Hartberg. The standout performer was arguably goalkeeper Samuel Sahin-Radlinger, who made a string of impressive saves between the sticks for the Upper Austrians, but it was Ante Bajic who grabbed the sole goal of the game with a nicely executed shot on the turn from inside the penalty area on the 35-minute mark. The goal was teed up by the outstanding Stefan Nutz, who remains top of the Bundesliga’s assist charts with eight and is already closing in on his personal best for a full season (10 assists for SV Grödig in 2014/15). Ried are now up in fourth place following two wins in a row, while Hartberg have dropped to eighth place after two defeats on the bounce.
SK Austria Klagenfurt 0-0 FK Austria Wien
Austria Vienna’s winless run against promoted sides extended to four games as they were held to a goalless draw by Austria Klagenfurt in Carinthia. It was actually only the second time all season that Peter Pacult’s men failed to score, but it should be no surprise given that they were up against the league’s second-best defence. The closest the game came to a goal was in the 16th minute when Austria Vienna’s Muharem Huskovic latched on to a through-pass by Vesel Demaku and dinked the ball over Philipp Menzel, but the offside flag went up and the opener was chalked off. Had it counted and decided the game, the capital club would have leapfrogged their opponents into the top half of the table – as it stands, though, Austria Klagenfurt remain in sixth place with 19 points, with Austria Vienna a place and two points behind.
WSG Tirol 5-1 RZ Pellets WAC
The Austrian Bundesliga threw up yet another major surprise in Innsbruck as bottom-of-the-table WSG Tirol thrashed Wolfsberger AC, the league’s most in-form team, 5-1 thanks to a Giacomo Vrioni masterclass. The Wolves came into this game on a five-match winning streak in the league, but the Juventus loanee opened the scoring – as he has now done six times this season – before Thomas Sabitzer curled home a delightful second goal. Eliel Peretz halved the deficit for the Carinthians, but a combination of Vrioni and Valentino Müller added further goals to complete the rout and move the Tyrolean outfit off the foot of the table. It was the biggest league win Thomas Silberberger has overseen in the two and a half years since guiding WSG to promotion to the top flight in 2019; Robin Dutt’s charges, meanwhile, have dropped to third on account of their inferior goal difference.
SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz 3-3 LASK
SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz came back from three goals down at home to claim a dramatic draw against 10-man LASK, who had Rene Renner sent off for a second bookable offence in the 79th minute. Sascha Horvath’s remarkable volleyed lob from a free-kick was undoubtedly the pick of the goals as the superior Linzers raced into a three-goal lead before the break – Lukas Grgic and Mamoudou Karamoko had earlier netted for Andi Wieland’s side – but Kelvin Yeboah pulled one back on the stroke of half-time to give the Grazers hope. Manprit Sarkaria then grabbed another back midway through the second period, before Yeboah drew his side level with 10 minutes remaining. Sturm, who wrested back second place in the table from Wolfsberg with this result and also have a game in hand, could have even won the match in the closing stages if Alexander Schlager hadn’t intervened to claw away Jakob Jantscher’s late header. LASK now occupy 11th spot, five points off the top six with seven games remaining until the split.