Read our prediction for Rapid Vienna vs Hartberg below. This preview was written by a sport journalist who is specialised in betting tips and predictions. Use our betting tips for the match between Rapid Vienna vs Hartberg and you can increase your winnings!
Rapid Vienna vs Hartberg Prediction & Betting tips
Not necessarily as desired began the calendar year 2019 for the Austrian club football. Both Rapid Wien (1-0 against Inter Milan) and Red Bull Salzburg (2-1 against Bruges) suffered a defeat in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League knockout stage on Thursday night! Before the Austrian Bundesliga awakens from hibernation this weekend, the four quarter-final matches in the cup competition are on the program this weekend. This round of knockout rounds off on late Sunday afternoon with the duel between Rapid Wien and Hartberg!
For the Austrian record champion SK Rapid Wien, the Austrian cup competition is of enormous importance this season. Due to the precarious situation in the Bundesliga, the national cup could be a straw in the fight for the Europa League qualification. Despite the return leg next Thursday, Didi Kühbauer will not dare to experiment in this game. Rapid is against Hartberg according to current odds (up to a 1.60) the clear favorite. The start of the match at the Allianz Stadium is on Sunday at 16:15.
Rapid Vienna:
After eight international home games without defeat the Austrian champions had to cope early Thursday evening, a 1-0 defeat against Inter Milan. In hindsight Didi Kühbauer can probably accept the accusation that his team did not take enough risk. Against the crippling top club from Italy Rapid was mostly forced into the defensive. Inter controlled ball and opponents, but had barely significant scoring chances. An unnecessary penalty foul by Manuel Thurnwald made for the decision. Lautaro Martinez remained cool from the penalty spot and fixed the victory. Rapid Wien barely featured on offense and had only one notable chance in substitution Schobesberger in 90 minutes.
However, this game on Thursday can not be used as a yardstick for the cup match against TSV Hartberg. With Schobesberger, Knasmüllner and Murg Kühbauer voluntarily renounced much creativity on the offensive. However, Rapid will have much more possession on Sunday than on Thursday night (only 30 percent). In addition, the Green-Whites will try to set the pace with these actors. The defensive work has already worked well against Inter Milan, on Sunday, the offensive is put to the test.
With six points off the top six in the league (with four games remaining), the championship playoffs are probably only theoretically possible. The cup competition is accordingly of great importance. Kühbauer had now a complete preparation time, so that the team can internalize his ideas. The cup match against Hartberg will be the first yardstick. In preparation, the offensive game (19 goals in six games) was quite appealing. The defensive acted so far but not saddle-tight (in the last five games, there was at least one goal each). Given these numbers, the tip on the over 2.5 (odds of 1.57) between Rapid Wien and Hartberg could be a good option. Personnelly, center-back Christopher Dibon injured in the final training before the inter-match on the sideband and will fail for several weeks. Neo striker Aliou Badji (not eligible to play in the Europa League) could celebrate his competitive debut for the Green and White!
Hartberg:
The early summer of 2018 TSV Hartberg will probably never forget. After the fixed ascent grief prevailed, since in the first two instances the license for the Bundesliga was denied. Only the constantly neutral arbitration court made for a positive decision in favor of the Grazer. The TSV Hartberg plays this season for the first time in the Austrian football upper house. In the newly created Zwölfer-Liga, the team of Markus Schopp presented so far quite as an asset. In 18 league games were collected 23 counters and thus is the promoted right in front of Rapid Vienna in seventh place in the table. However, already in the finish of the autumn passage a significant performance drop was noticeable. The last competitive match of 2018 was lost to the cashpoint SCR Altach with 1: 6. This left the promoted for the fourth time in succession without full success and conceded in the last four Bundesliga matches no less than 15 goals (!).
Compared to the autumn of 2018, the squad in the spring of 2019 is qualitatively weaker. The two highly contested loaners Youba Diarra (Red Bull Salzburg) and Ivan Ljubic (SK Sturm Graz) returned to their home clubs. With veteran Peter Tschernegg (FC Sankt Gallen) could at least be committed to a seasoned professional. Nevertheless, the gaps between the two youngsters are great. The preparation was not necessarily for the Schopp Elf as desired. A defeat against second division Lafnitz or a draw against Wiener Neustadt were not necessarily as success stories. In preparation, confirmed the trend from the fall and many goals were guaranteed. With such a defensive performance in the Cup Fight between Rapid Vienna and Hartberg a prognosis on the underdog from Styria is not recommended.
Over the winter, the Schopp-Elf will not have changed the style of play. The Styrians are very deep and leave the opponent large parts of the playing field. Pressure is applied only in the last third of the field and thus the opponents often come to scoring chances. Especially over the wings, the opponent can always tear holes!
Rapid Vienna vs Hartberg head to head matches
20.10.18 BUN Hartberg Rapid Vienna 3 : 0
11.11.11 CF Rapid Vienna Hartberg 3 : 1
10.11.10 CUP Rapid Vienna Hartberg 3 : 0