Austria Wien put four past Rapid Wien II at the Generali Arena on Sunday evening in the second tier, closing out their seventh matchday with a comfortable win. The hosts dominated proceedings after the break, taking a 3-0 lead inside an hour before adding two late goals to seal the result. Rapid started brightly enough but could not find the net, and their afternoon collapsed when Paul Ertl was shown a second yellow card in the sixty-fourth minute.
Boris Jerabek opened the scoring in the fourteenth minute, finishing a move that had swept through the midfield with purpose. The home side doubled their advantage after the interval, Nicolas Polonkai finding space in the box to fire home in the forty-eighth minute. Jozepovic then added the third in the fifty-second, and by then Rapid's defence was scrambling to keep up.
Ertl had already picked up a caution in the second minute, and the referee did not hesitate when the defender caught the ball with his hand inside the area. The red card changed the complexion of the match entirely. Rapid made three changes in quick succession, bringing on Ousmane Thiero, David Polke and Ensar Music in the seventy-second minute, but the gap was too wide to bridge.
Islam Menshykov made sure of the points, scoring his first in the eighty-third and his second in stoppage time. The academy graduate marked his first start with a goal, and the away end never stopped despite the scoreline. Austria substituted Jerabek for Hasan Deshishku in the seventy-seventh minute, rolling the dice to freshen up the attack.
The statistics tell an interesting story. Both sides had fifty percent possession, yet Austria created more danger with eighty-two attacks to Rapid's eighty-six. The visitors won more corners and throw-ins, but the extra possession went nowhere without a proper outlet. Rapid also ended with three yellow cards against Austria's one, and Ertl's dismissal left them short.
Austria move up the table to ninth place with nine points from six matches, three wins and three defeats. Rapid remain in fourteenth with six points, their fourth loss in as many weeks. The result ends a run of two defeats for the home side, while Rapid's slide continues.
