Ercan Kara, Nenad Cvetković, Yusuf Demir with a brace and Marco Tilio were all on target for the Vienna club, who remain top of the table after ten rounds of fixtures.
Rapid stick with a settled attacking line-up
Hoff Thorup kept faith with his established starting XI, making no changes from the previous league match. Rapid lined up in a 4-2-3-1, with Kara leading the attack and Demir, Tonni Adamsen and Petter Dahl operating behind him. Matthias Seidl and Nicolas Bajlicz formed the central midfield partnership.
Austria Lustenau coach Markus Mader opted for a defensively minded formation. The visitors aimed to congest the spaces in front of their penalty area and break quickly through their attacking players whenever they regained possession.
Rapid, however, pressed Lustenau from the start of their build-up and immediately counter-pressed after losing the ball. Seidl and Bajlicz were particularly quick to close down opponents, while full-backs Bolla and Horn pushed high up the pitch. As a result, Lustenau rarely managed to establish sustained spells of possession.
Two goals inside eight minutes put Rapid in control
Rapid needed just six minutes to take the lead. Demir received the ball on the right and delivered an excellent diagonal pass behind the Lustenau defence for Dahl. The Norwegian broke into the left side of the penalty area and squared for Kara, who tapped home from close range.
The second goal arrived just two minutes later. Adamsen collected the ball on the right side of the six-yard box and cut it back into the middle, where Cvetković had surged forward. The centre-back finished into the bottom-left corner.
Lustenau struggled particularly with Rapid’s quick switches of play and the attacking runs of their full-backs. The hosts also repeatedly found passing options through the middle, leaving the visitors unable to concentrate their defensive efforts on any one area.
Rapid continue to create chances
Even after their flying start, Rapid pushed for a third. Demir fired wide following a swift counter-attack, while Adamsen failed to convert from close range. Lustenau frequently defended deep but still struggled to contain the hosts’ attacking movement.
Kara thought he had scored again in the 19th minute, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
Dahl squandered another promising opportunity after a delivery from Adamsen, while Kara was unable to direct a header on target following a free-kick. Given the number of chances created, Rapid could easily have established an even bigger lead before half-time.
Demir makes it three from the penalty spot
Another dangerous situation developed in the 40th minute. Bolla met a cross from the left with a header from around three metres out but sent his effort wide. At the same time, Danilo Soares brought Kara down in the middle of the penalty area.
Referee Walter Altmann immediately pointed to the spot. Demir stepped up and confidently converted to make it 3-0.
Despite their overwhelming superiority, Rapid almost gifted Lustenau a goal shortly afterwards. Raux-Yao lost possession inside his own penalty area, allowing Antonio Verinac to shoot, but Niklas Hedl made the save.
Lustenau pull a goal back after the break
Rapid initially remained in control after half-time and created a good opportunity through Dahl. The Norwegian was denied by goalkeeper Domenik Schierl, with Horn striking the crossbar from the rebound.
Mader responded to the home side’s continued dominance with a double substitution around the 55th minute, introducing Lenn Jastremski for Antonio Verinac and Haris Ismailcebioglu for Lord Afrifa.
The changes soon paid off. In the 60th minute, Fabian Gmeiner played a through ball to Ismailcebioglu, who got the better of Cvetković in a foot race before sliding his finish past Hedl to reduce the deficit to 3-1.
For the first time, Lustenau had successfully exploited the space behind Rapid’s defensive line.
Demir heads home to restore the three-goal cushion
Rapid restored their three-goal advantage in the 67th minute. Horn found space on the left and delivered an excellent cross towards the six-yard box, where Demir had made a well-timed run. The attacking midfielder only needed to guide his header over the line.
The hosts eased the tempo slightly afterwards. Kara struck the crossbar with a header in the 73rd minute before Hoff Thorup introduced fresh legs, including Marco Tilio and Moulaye Haïdara. Rapid nevertheless remained dangerous, with Lustenau still struggling to relieve the pressure after winning possession.
Tilio completed the scoring in the 85th minute. Adamsen found the Australian near the penalty area, and the substitute beat his marker before firing a well-placed shot from the edge of the box into the right corner to make it 5-1.
The statistics underline Rapid’s superiority
Rapid finished with 62 per cent possession, outshot Lustenau 19-8 and recorded 41 touches in the opposition penalty area compared with just 13 for the visitors. The expected-goals figures of 4.11 to 1.12 also reflected the hosts’ dominance, particularly the wealth of high-quality chances they created in the first half.
Rapid consistently found routes into the penalty area through quick combinations and fluid positional rotations, both centrally and down the flanks. Their immediate pressure after losing possession frequently prevented Lustenau from launching organised counter-attacks.
Demir was particularly influential, scoring twice, playing a decisive role in the opening goal and repeatedly finding creative solutions in attacking combinations. Rapid’s defensive performance was also largely assured, although a careless loss of possession before the interval and the visitors’ goal exposed occasional lapses.
Lustenau, meanwhile, struggled to maintain a stable defensive shape against Rapid’s varied attacking movement. Marking was frequently poor when the hosts switched play quickly or delivered crosses into the area. The visitors also surrendered possession too readily after winning it back, preventing them from regularly testing Rapid’s advanced defensive line.
Rapid maintain their commanding lead at the top
Rapid have collected 27 points from their opening ten league matches, winning nine of them. Whatever happens elsewhere this weekend, the Vienna side are guaranteed to remain top of the Bundesliga.
On Tuesday, Rapid travel to face First Vienna FC at the Hohe Warte in the Austrian Cup round of 16. The Vienna derby against Austria follows on Sunday, with Rapid heading into the clash an extraordinary 20 points clear of their city rivals.
