Rijeka and Austria Wien met today at Rujevica for their Group D match of the Europa League competition.
A decisive win for Rijeka was anything but after the team suffered a catastrophe at Rujevica in the fourth Group D match of Europa League against Austria Wien on November 2, 2017.
In front of nearly 8,000 fans at Rujevica, Rijeka could not entirely give the show they were expected tonight - and their hope of advancing further in the Europa League competition has undoubtedly dwindled.
Rijeka started aggressively, showing at first that achieving three points was on the horizon. While the game remained 0:0 for most of the first half, a shocking display of Rijeka’s defense allowed Austria to take the lead after Prokop found the back of the net in the 41st minute. The game was 0:1 for the away side at the half.
The second half, we thought, would be more promising for the Croatian champion, and in the 61st minute, Rijeka came back to equalize with a goal from Pavičić in the 61st minute.
The euphoria lasted just one minute, though, and Austria’s Prokop came back with another goal in the 62nd minute for 1:2.
From that point on, the match only went downhill for the home team, and after Mišić was given a red card in the 72nd minute, Austria’s Serbest came back in the 74th minute for 1:3.
The story was over, and Austria was able to secure yet another goal when Monschein scored in the 83rd minute for 1:4.
In the second match of Group D, AEK and AC Milan played 0: 0, just as they did two weeks ago at San Siro.
Milan currently leads the group with 8 points, AEK is in second with 6, Austria in third with 4, and Rijeka in last with 3 points.
In the next round of Europa League, Rijeka will play AEK in Athens on November 23, 2017, while Milan and Austria will meet for the other group stage match. The group stage finishes on December 7, 2017, when Rijeka hosts AC Milan at Rujevica, and Austria hosts AEK.
