Thursday evening, RSC Anderlecht qualified for the group stages of the UEFA cup. It did so by beating Rapid Wien, 0-1, thereby restoring the 1-1 draw of the away game. Anderlecht deserved their qualification based on the first twenty minutes of the match in which they dominated. Serhat Akin took advantage to score the only goal of the match. Later on in the game, Rapid took over, but they could only threaten on set pieces. After all, it was Anderlecht that got the best chance of the match, but substitute Mbark Boussoufa found Rapid keeper Helge Payer on his way.

At Rapid, key defensive midfielder Markus Heikkinen returned after having missed the weekend match. Playmaker Steffen Hoffmann, who was extremely doubtful for the match, was fit after all. At Anderlecht, coach Franky Vercauteren could count on Nicolas Frutos, but left the striker on the bench. After all, the influential attacker hadn’t played a single match since May last season. Instead, Serhat Akin was the central striker with Jelle Van Damme surprisingly on the left and Jonathan Legear on the right. Right-back Marcin Wasilewski started on the bench in favour of Mark De Man.

At the beginning of the match, Anderlecht impressed. They monopolised the ball and under the impulse of an omni-present Ahmed Hassan and a hard-working Legear, the visitors pushed the home team away. It was therefore fully deserved when Serhat brilliantly put a cross of Jan Polak behind Rapid keeper Payer. However, les Mauves failed to pushed through after having taken the lead. They let initiative to Rapid, but the Austrians didn’t really know what to do with it. The only time Anderlecht keeper Daniel Zitka had to intervene was on a free kick of Hoffman. The second half gave the same image. Rapid had most of the possession, but they lacked the creativity to do something with it. Anderlecht tried to break out and it was almost successful when the substitutes Boussoufa and Frutos set up a sharp attack. Still, the Dutchman found Payer on his way. Rapid couldn’t do anything anymore, so the score staid at 0-1.

Due to this victory RSC Anderlecht qualifies for the group stages and also releases some of the pressure that got to the club after failing to qualify for the Champions League. They can now focus on the Jupiler League. Rapid had to admit that the better team got through. The Austrians can focus on the their performances in the league now, because they aren’t too good either.