Bundesliga Austria UECL Playoff, First Leg, Thursday, 29.05.2025 at 17:00
You can place an Interwetten free bet yourself at this late stage of the 2024/25 season. You can also use it to spice up your own LASK SK Rapid prediction.
Meanwhile, I have my own LASK Rapid prediction, which is that the playoff first leg will end in the same way as many of the recent encounters between these two clubs.
The last two matches of the 2024/25 Bundesliga season are on the schedule. These are the first and second legs between LASK and Rapid Vienna for a place in the upcoming Conference League.
Both clubs are eager to qualify for European competition, as this is not only attractive from a sporting point of view, but also brings much-needed money into the club coffers.
Linz had to beat Hartberg 2-0 to reach this decisive duel. An early goal from Maximilian Entrup and one from Andres Andrade after the break sealed the Athletic Club’s place in the final.
Rapid, meanwhile, finished in the championship group with 27 points, while Linz topped the relegation group with 38 points. However, the capital city club faced tough competition for weeks.
According to my LASK Rapid prediction, the factor of competitive toughness should not be underestimated – and this clearly favors the men from Vienna, especially as their recent results have been quite respectable.
First, Austria Vienna (2-1) and Sturm Graz (3-1) were defeated before RB Salzburg had to admit defeat 2-4.
The fact is: it’s difficult to bet on an away win here, even if the LASK Rapid odds are certainly not bad, with an average of 2.40.
However, this would imply that Rapid would have to beat a team that has not lost a Bundesliga home game in the 2025 calendar year.
What’s more, Rapid itself has not won an away game in Linz against ASK since 2021 (3 draws, 4 defeats).
Personally, I consider the probability of a 0-0 or 1-1 final score to be extremely high.
So high that I would put the excellent VBET bonus straight onto a combination bet of the type “Under 2.5 goals & draw.”
After all, more than half (4) of the last seven encounters between Linz and Rapid ended with exactly one of these two results. Most recently, however, LASK narrowly prevailed 2-1 in February.
In the two upcoming matches, however, it will also be a question of toughness and stamina – after all, both teams are missing several players at this late stage of the season.
Berisha, Jungwirth, Michael, Pintor, and Usor are definitely out for Linz.
The visitors, on the other hand, are without Borkeeiet, Groller, Orgler, Sangare and Scholler, while it remains to be seen whether Grgic and Roka will be fit in time for kick-off.
Other bets I can recommend are on the number of goals expected.
I firmly believe that Rapid will take few risks in the first leg and save their energy for the second leg.
After all, Stefan Kulovits’s boys are well aware of Linz’s home strength – and are therefore guaranteed not to run blindly into the open!
“Under 2.5 goals” is my preferred goal bet. The odds are quite respectable at 2.20 on average, and Rapid will do everything they can to disrupt their opponents’ flow without opening themselves up too much.
I’m also quite keen on the “under 3.5 goals” option. However, with a win multiplier of around 1.4x, I would strongly recommend selecting an additional condition.
In general, I firmly believe that there will be significantly more goals in the second leg than there were on Thursday in Linz.
Conclusion: The hosts will try to apply pressure early on, but Rapid should be able to hold them off for a long time.
I expect a tough game with few chances in front of goal and a long-lasting 0-0 draw – much to the delight of the Viennese.
I consider a decisive result in the first leg to be extremely unlikely.
My LASK SK Rapid tip: Under 2.5 goals!
