Thursday evening at 19:30, Rapid Vienna (Austria) receives Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) in the second round of the UEFA Europa League’s preliminary round. Slovan has landed on its own with 2-1, a result that does not guarantee qualification, especially given that white-blue have shown their defenses repeatedly in the last month.
It was a crazy match on the tour in Bratislava. Slovan made 2-1, but Rapid missed a penalty in the 84th minute through Alar. With a score of 2-2, Rapid would have been a big favorite in qualifying, but so the Austrians need a clear success for play-off qualifying. Slovan went on tour through Bozhikov (29) and Barak’s autogol (49) after Rapid Vienna opened the scoring through Schwab (12). The guests got out of control in the second half.
It is hard to say that one of the bands dominated the first hand, in which the possession ratio was 53% -47% in favor of the hosts. Slovan scored 10 sutures at the gate, of which only two on the goal (and two scored goals), while Rapid Vienna had 12 attempts and 4 draws. There were not less than 17 corners in the first hand, which speaks for themselves about the rhythm of the game. We are expecting both teams to look for the goal in the decisive game.
Slovan Bratislava has swept a bit for qualifying in round 3, after crossing Maltese from Balzan Youths, 1-2 in the tour and 3-0 at home. The Slovaks have 9 wins in the last 11 matches and come after a 1-1 with Nitra in the championship, in which Slovan has rested base players in the perspective of the return with Rapid Vienna. The Austrians do not impress internally where they made 1-1 with Altach and 0-0 with Wolfsberger, but the European bet is huge and somewhat explains the lack of efficiency at home. We are talking about two quality teams, and it is inexplicable that Rapid is favorite in betting houses. Slovan Bratislava has the power to mark away!
PREDICTION: Rapid Vienna to win @ 1.52
