The Violets triumph in the 350th Vienna derby

Sanel Šaljić put the Violets on the road to victory with a header before half-time, and another from Tin Plavotić sealed the win. Although the hosts had more possession, they posed no threat in attack. Austria thus remain unbeaten in this season’s derbies against Rapid and have overtaken their city rivals in the table.

Head coach Stephan Helm went into the final derby of the season with an unchanged starting line-up. The Violets had recorded two wins and a draw so far this season.

Rapid were without the suspended Matthias Seidl, with Lukas Grgic coming into the team in his place. Furthermore, manager Johannes Hoff replaced Thorup, Ange Ahoussou and Ercan Kara with Nenad Cvetković and Andreas Weimann, who were both eligible to play again, in the starting line-up.

Šaljić goal gave the lead at half-time

The 350th Vienna derby got off to an eventful start, with Johannes Eggestein finding himself one-on-one with Niklas Hedl but being denied by Cvetković (3’). Samuel Şahin-Radlinger was alert to a shot from Petter Nosa Dahl and palmed the ball away from the near post (4’). The 2,300 travelling ‘Veilchen’ fans were able to celebrate for the first time as early as the 9th minute: following a pinpoint cross from Manfred Fischer on the right, Sanel Šaljić got his head to the ball in the centre and sent it spectacularly over Hedl into the net for a 1-0 lead – the young Austrian’s first Bundesliga goal.

Jannes Horn shot wide in the 23rd minute, but had to leave the field shortly afterwards due to injury. Aleksandar Dragović was shown a yellow card and will therefore be suspended for the final round against LASK. Šaljić found himself with some space again following a well-executed counter-attack, but was pushed off the ball by Cvetković (30). A header from Janis Antiste went narrowly wide of the goal (34). After Philipp Maybach won the ball on the halfway line, Eggestein had the next chance to score, but was narrowly offside when the pass was played (40'). The teams went into the break with a narrow but deserved lead.

Plavotić seals the deal in the derby

At the start of the second half, the home side tried to take control of the game, but they failed to pose any real threat. Stephan Helm made a double substitution: Johannes Handl and Kelvin Boateng came on for Philipp Wiesinger and Sanel Šaljić. Hedl had to stretch to save a superb long-range shot from Maybach (59). Shortly afterwards, Eggestein took a shot, which was deflected for a corner. Taeseok Lee swung the corner into the middle and Tin Plavotić headed the ball into the net – 0–2 in the 60th minute.

Austria continued to let the Green-Whites have the ball and waited for quick counter-attacks; Hedl saved a shot from Fischer (76'). Vasilije Marković and Florian Wustinger replaced Maybach and Eggestein with ten minutes remaining.

Şahin-Radlinger kept the Violets safe from a late goal by substitute Yusuf Demir (89'), whilst Ifeanyi Ndukwe made his debut for the Violets’ first team in stoppage time. The score remained unchanged, with Austria securing a comfortable 2-0 win in the west of Vienna and overtaking their city rivals to move into fourth place in the table.

SK Rapid – Austria Wien 0–2 (0–1)

Rapid: Hedl; Schöller (65. Y. Demir), Cvetković, Raux-Yao; Bolla, Amane, Grgic (82. Gulliksen), Horn (25. Wurmbrand); Antiste (65. Kara), Weimann, Dahl

Austria: Şahin-Radlinger; Wiesinger (56. Handl), Dragović, Plavotić; Ranftl, Maybach (80. Wustinger), Barry (90+3 Ndukwe), Tae-seok Lee; Fischer, Eggestein (80. Marković), Saljić (56. Boateng)

Goals: Saljić (9'), Plavotić (60')

Gelbe Karten: Ranftl (19'), Dragović (27')

Allianz Stadium, referee Julian Weinberger, 24,000 spectators