Europa League Qualification: Rapid Wien versus Aston Villa, Match Review
Aston Villa took on Rapid Wien, who are more formally known as Wien, in an Europa league qualification match. The first leg of the two legged, qualification encounter between the two sides took place at Gerhard-Hanappi-Stadium in Wien, Austria. The Hanappi stadium is Rapid’s home stadium and is seen by many as a fantastic venue for club football.
Rapid came to this match off the back of a five goals to two win over SK Rapid Wien II. Whereas their opponents Aston Villa, approached the mind with a confident frame of mind as they had opened their English Premier League campaign with a win over West Ham United on 14th of August, 2010.
Both the teams are seen as above average European outfits, who have not had a lot of history at the top level of European football i.e. the UEFA Champions League. However, Aston Villa won the older version of the European Cup back in the 1980s before UEFA imposed a ban on the English clubs from participating in the competition.
Villa deployed a fairly weak side due to the injury troubles that have plagued them this season. They started with Emile Heskey upfront as the one and only striker. In their midfield, Downing, Reo Coker, Mark Albrighton, Barry Bannan and Jonathan Hogg took their creative duties respectively. At the back for Aston Villa, who hail from the city of Villa in Birmingham, England, Habib Beye, Warnock, Davies, and Eric Lichaj played as defenders.
For the hosts, Rapid Wien, Hamdi Sahili and Atdhe Nuhiu played as the two strikers. Marcus Heikkenen, Steffen Hoffmann, Veli Kavlak and Thomas Hinum took their places as the Rapid’s midfield four. In defense, Tanju Kayhan, Ragnvald Soma, Markus Katzer and Mario Sonnlietner were entrusted with the job of keeping a clean sheet by the Wien manager, Peter Pacult. For Rapid, Raimund Hedl played as the goal keeper while for Villa; Brad Guzan took his usual place in between the goal posts.
The referee for the match was Alain Hammer from Luxemburg. François Mangen and Christian Holtgen were the linesman for the Europa league qualifier and both of them also hailed from Luxemburg. Despite starting with a weak lineup which had players such as Petrov, Ashley Young, Carew, Freidel and Dunne missing, Aston Villa were favorites to win the match.
Wien on the other hand were counting on the support from the home crowd to carry them throughout the match. However, Villa were without a permanent manager for the match as Kevin McDonald, who previously managed Villa’s reserve team was made the club’s caretaker manager till the board of directors appointed a suitable replacement for Martin O’Neill.
The match started off at a nice tempo which provided a fine display of some good attacking football. During the first half of the encounter between the English and the Austrian club, Tanju Kayhan became the first man to get booked in the match as he saw a yellow card in the 11th minute of the match. In the 12th minute right after the foul by Tanju, Villa took the lead through their relatively unfamiliar midfielder, Barry Bannan.
In the 17th minute of the match, Ragnvald Soma became the second player in the match as well as the second player from Rapid Wien to go into the referee’s book. Soma was shown a yellow card. In the 32nd minute of the match, hosts equalized after a brilliantly headed goal from Atdhe Nuhiu, who connected well with Steffen Hoffmann’s cross.
Nigel Reo-Coker from Aston Villa became the third player in the match to see a yellow card from the referee at the 34th minute mark in the first half of the match. At the end of the first half, the scores were tied at one all. After the start of the second half, near the 51st minute of the match, Brad Guzan was shown a yellow card by the referee. In doing so, Guzan became the fourth player on the night to get booked by the referee from Luxemburg.
Rapid’s defender, Markus Katzer became the fifth player in the match to see a yellow card in the 70th minute of the match. Despite Rapid’s domination on possession, Aston Villa looked threatening when they attacked towards the Wien goal throughout the match. In the 74th minute of the second half, Villa brought on another striker to partner Heskey upfront, in the shape of Delfouneso. Delfouneso came on for Barry, who had scored Villa’s first goal in the first half of the Europa League qualification match.
Despite Aston Villa’s positive changes at the end of the first half, the English side had to settle finally for a draw with the Austrian club, Rapid Wien. The next leg will surely hold more promise for Aston Villa, as it will be played in England at the Villa Park, where Villa will be the favorites once again to finish off the job that they have half completed in Austria.
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