Schalke win 2-1 in Vienna
12.07.2009
Schalke travelled to Austria on Saturday for a friendly to mark the 110th anniversary of Rapid Vienna. And after a lively 90 minutes the Royal Blues won 2-1 thanks to strikes from Ivan Rakitic and Kevin Kuranyi in front of a sell-out 17,500 crowd at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium, which included around 800 Schalke supporters.
On the back of five demanding days at training camp and Tuesday's friendly against FC Twente Felix Magath's men made a bright start, showing no signs whatsoever of weary legs. The first chance of the game fell to Ivan Rakitic in the eighth minute. But the Croatia international's shot from just inside the area was comfortably saved by Rapid goalkeeper Helge Payer. Almost immediately the home side created their first opportunity through Erwin Hoffer. His effort posed no problem for Mathias Schober, however.
After a lively opening the game continued at a good pace and on 19 minutes the Royal Blues threatened again. Jan Moravek slipped a pass through to Jefferson Farfan, only for Rapid's Jürgen Patocka to step in at the last second to clear the danger. The resulting corner landed at the feet of Rafinha, who again fed Farfan. But the Peru striker failed to get a proper connection and prodded the ball wide of the left-hand upright. Three minutes later the Royal Blues survived a scare when Andreas Dober broke down the right and found Hoffer unmarked at the near post with an astute pass. The Rapid striker took it first time, but the ball flew narrowly over the bar.
A further three minutes after that Levan Kobiashvili and new signing Lewis Holtby drew applause with a neat combination down the left-hand side that saw the former Aachen player set up Farfan in a good position. But instead of going for goal himself the Peruvian elected to pass to Halil Altintop, who was dispossessed by a Rapid defender just as he was about to shoot.
With 26 minutes gone the Austrians opened the scoring, though there was a suspicion of offside about it. A long ball from midfield found Hoffer, who chested the ball down before dispatching a right-foot shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal. Farfan almost restored parity just two minutes later, forcing Payer into a superb reflex with a diving header from Rafinha's slide-rule cross.
Farfan was in the thick of things again on 37. Following a dream pass by Holtby the Peruvian attempted to round Payer, who was left with no option to bring him down for a penalty. Rakitic stroked the ball with aplomb into the bottom right-hand corner to leave the score 1-1 at half-time.
The second half began as the first had ended – with lots of pace and a goal for the Royal Blues. A quick 51st minute counterthrust saw Vicente Sanchez aim a cross at Kevin Kuranyi, who headed the ball towards goal. Payer got his hands to it, but there was nothing he could do to prevent Kuranyi from slotting home the rebound from five metres. Four minutes later Sanchez almost made it 3-1. Danny Latza and Holtby broke quickly and the ball found its way to the Uruguayan, but his shot from the right-hand channel cleared the crossbar.
As the game wore on Rapid stepped up the pressure in an attempt to notch an equaliser, but neither Hoffer, who was put off by Carlos Zambrano's last-ditch challenge, nor Dober, from a corner, was able to find the net. Schalke's next opportunity fell to Kuranyi. Running onto a pass from midfield he struck a low drive from the edge of the area, but the ball fizzed just past the right-hand post.
In the closing stages Rapid coach Peter Pacult, who collected experience in the Bundesliga at 1860 Munich, threw everyone forward. But Austria's record champions failed to get the reward for their efforts. Steffen Hofmann was denied by Schober following a fine pass by Nikica Jelavic on 81, and with three minutes left Jelavic was thwarted by a challenge from Zambrano.
Rapid Vienna: Payer (Hedl 79')- Dober, Jovanovic (Eder 61'), Patocka (Schösswendter 88'), Thonhofer (Katzer 55') - Hofmann, Heikinnen, Pehlivan (Trimmel 79'), Kavlak (Konrad 68') - Hoffer, Maierhofer (Jelavic 61')
Schalke: Schober – Rafinha (Pachan 75'), Höwedes, Bordon (Zambrano 46'), Kobiashvili – Moravek (Latza 46'), Westermann, Rakitic (Grossmüller 65'/Stevanovic 82'), Holtby (Pliatsikas 75') – Farfan (Kuranyi 46'), Altintop (Sanchez 46')
Goals: 1-0 Hoffer (26'), 1-1 Rakitic (38' pen.), 1-2 Kuranyi (51')
Attendance: 17,500 (sold out)
Referee: Lechner (Vienna)
