Rapid reverse gifts title to Salzburg

FC Salzburg are the new champions of Austria's Bundesliga after titleholders and closest pursuers SK Rapid Wien suffered a 3-0 loss at SV Ried that left them unable to bridge the seven-point gap with two games remaining.

Rapid downfall
Co Adriaanse's side had piled on the pressure with their 2-1 victory over LASK Linz on Saturday and Rapid failed to respond in kind, despite their bright start. Unbeaten in their previous 16 home games this season, 12 of which were wins, Ried went ahead after 35 minutes through Ignacio Rodríguez's close-range effort, before the Spaniard added his 13th of the campaign with a back-heel two minutes later. Hamdi Salihi rounded off the scoring by heading in Stefan Lexa's cross just before half-time, with Rapid unable to mount a comeback and reduced to ten men by Stefan Kulovits's 56th-minute dismissal.

Janko goals
"Many thanks to Ried for their great performance – we're overjoyed," commented Alexander Zickler, the Salzburg captain having watched the match with his team-mates at the club's home ground. "It's a nice experience as I wasn't able to contribute too much to our last championship [in 2007]," added top scorer Marc Janko, who has notched 39 league goals in 29 appearances. The Austrian international added the most recent of those against LASK on Saturday, finding the target 20 minutes after Vladimír Janočko (13) had put Salzburg ahead. Roman Wallner responded with 16 minutes left, but the hosts held on to set up their fifth Bundesliga coronation.