Rapid hopes stall as Hamburg march on

Hamburger SV eased through to the round of 32 at the expense of SK Rapid Wien as second-half goals from Marcell Jansen and Marcus Berg secured a 2-0 triumph.

Top spot
With Bruno Labbadia's second-placed charges three points ahead of Rapid at the start of play the visitors knew that, thanks to a 3-0 Matchday 1 victory against their German guests, a draw at the Hamburg Arena would leave them still in the qualification hunt. A resolute opening period heightened their prospects but Jansen's 47th-minute opener and Berg's fourth of the group stage instead moved Hamburg to the Group C summit.

Four bookings
Openings for either side were not forthcoming in the first half with the only significant effort a rasping, but always rising, free-kick from home midfielder Jansen. Indeed, Hamburg were the more enterprising but met stout resistance, underlined by four yellow cards for the visitors within 40 minutes.

Jovanović error
Had Peter Pacult's defence been so focussed at the start of the second half, they may have avoided falling behind. Instead, a long punt from Frank Rost was met with an underhit back-pass by Milan Jovanović and Jansen nipped in to fire inside the near post. No sooner had Rapid regained their composure then they fell further adrift, Guy Demel whipping in a cross from the right touchline and Berg seamlessly controlling, turning and driving a shot past a static Helge Payer.

Spectacular attempt
Lesser teams might have folded, but Rapid nearly narrowed the deficit when the home side failed to clear Steffen Hofmann's free-kick and Markus Heikkinen's overhead kick struck the outside of the post. The danger averted, Hamburg showed their class for the remainder with Payer denying Jansen, Dennis Aogo and Robert Tesche in the later stages.