Duel with Armenians
Rapid: Klauß had to google the opponent himself
Rapid coach Robert Klauß had to google tomorrow's Conference League opponent FC Noah himself. The Armenians shocked even well-known teams in the qualifiers. Noah's goalie made headlines around the world.
"We should get 19 points from the six games in the league phase," Robert Klauß reacted cynically to the expectations around Hütteldorf after the 2:1 at Basaksehir in the Conference League. But Rapids' coach had to google tomorrow's opponent himself: FC Noah, Armenia's runners-up.
First founded in 2017 as FC Artsakh, then renamed after the famous ark that was once stranded off Mount Ararat. What Klauß knows. His coaching team puts together a dossier for each opponent: "A mix of charts, statistics and videos, from the stadium to the history to the possible line-up. We were also on site," reports the German.
Who will not underestimate Noah. Even if soccer in Armenia is anything but professional. Fans usually only come thanks to free tickets, matches are shown live (without revenue) on YouTube, the pride and joy is the national team (96th in the world rankings), former Inter Milan star Henrikh Mkhitaryan is and remains the eternal hero.
Noah (market value 7.7 million euros) is missing familiar names despite 17 legionnaires. However, the young capital city club from Yerevan is considered an ambitious project, has been able to attract many of the country's talents and also cooperates with Celta de Vigo from Spain's La Liga. And is now only the country's second club in a European league phase. After FC Alashkert, who lost twice against LASK in 2021 (0:3/h and 0:2/a). Noah had to survive four (!) qualifying rounds for success, which they did thanks to their home strength (including a 3-0 win against Ruzomberok/Slk).
Goal from 90 meters
Also against the "rich" AEK Athens with ex-Rapidler Robert Ljubicic. The 3:1 against the shocked Greeks made headlines around the world because goalkeeper Cancarevic scored from 90 meters. He made a mockery of Athens' "one-man" Strakosha, who replaced former Austrian team goalkeeper Cican Stankovic, with a drive from the ground, i.e. not a shot.
And on the first matchday of the Conference League, Mlada Boleslav (CZE) were also defeated 2-0 at home, meaning the Armenians are ahead of Rapid in the table. Nevertheless, the green-and-white team must not be shipwrecked against Noah tomorrow. Not in Vienna. That would be an embarrassment.
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