Round two of the 2024-25 Austrian Bundesliga sees Austria Klagenfurt and Rapid Vienna face off at the 28 Black Arena on Sunday.
The home side suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat to Wolfsberger in their opening league fixture, while the visitors secured a 1-0 victory against reigning champions Sturm Graz.
Match preview
© Imago
After a disastrous start to the campaign, Austria Klagenfurt find themselves at the bottom of the Austrian Bundesliga table with the worst goal difference.
Die Violetten will be eager to bounce back and replicate last season's regular season performance, which saw them qualify for the Championship Round.
Still chasing their first league title, the Carinthian outfit are not currently looking like serious contenders, but manager Peter Pacult will be hoping to secure a European place at the end of the season.
Klagenfurt enjoyed a solid pre-season, winning three and drawing one of their six matches, before comfortably defeating Regionalliga Ost side Gloggnitz 5-0 in the Austrian Cup first round.
Replicating this form will be crucial for the home side as they host Rapid Vienna, but they must end a three-match winless streak against the visitors to achieve this.
However, hosts have a poor record against visitors at home, winning just one of six matches while losing three and drawing two.
Rapid Vienna travelled to Turkey last Thursday for the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie and secured a 1-0 victory, putting them in a strong position to progress.
It was another hard-fought win for the Rapidler, who had already opened their Austrian Bundesliga campaign with a famous home victory over the reigning champions.
Rapid Vienna have now won all five competitive matches since the start of the new season, including victories over Wisla Krakow in the Europa League and Neusiedl in the Austrian Cup, scoring 12 goals and conceding just two.
As the most successful club in Austrian top-flight history with 32 titles, Rapid Vienna are always considered title favourites, but they have not lifted the trophy since 2007-08.
Manager Robert Klauss will be hoping to end this 16-year drought, and their early-season form offers some encouragement, but he knows it is still early days and they must maintain their momentum.
Team News
![Louis Schaub, Vienna, AUT, Rapid AC Milan, Test match, International friendly match, Rapid Vienna, 20/07/2024 [on July 23, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/30/louis-schaub.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Louis Schaub, Vienna, AUT, Rapid AC Milan, Test match, International friendly match, Rapid Vienna, 20/07/2024 [on July 23, 2024]")
© Imago
Klagenfurt will head into this clash without 18-year-old midfielder Bego Kujrakovic, who has a cruciate ligament tear and is expected to be out for a long time.
Laurenz Dehl scored the only goal in the opening day loss and he could be in contention to be part of the XI for this fixture.
Rapid Vienna will remain without Thierry Gale and Bernhard Zimmermann, who are both sidelined with cruciate ligament tears.
Ismail Seydi and Ferdy Druijf are both sidelined with knee injuries, while new signing Jakob Scholler is a fitness doubt.
Austria Klagenfurt possible starting lineup:
Knaller; Gezos, Mahrer, Szerencsi, Kuhn; Cvetko, Koch, Bonnah; Bobzien, Binder, Wydra
Rapid Vienna possible starting lineup:
Hedl; Bolla, Cvetkovic, Raux-Yao, Auer; Sangare, Grgic; Jansson, Seidl; Burgstaller, Beljo
We say: Austria Klagenfurt 1-2 Rapid Vienna
Rapid Vienna have made a strong start to the new campaign and will rightly be regarded as favourites for this contest against a Klagenfurt side that were woeful on the opening day, which is why we expect them to win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
