He is the man for the late green and white moments of happiness: Nobody embodies the “rapid quarter hour” as much as Bernhard Zimmermann. The 20-year-old from Korneuburg knows how to impress with goals – despite the short playing time. “It’s not the easiest phase for me right now, but I’ll fight my way out of it,” he says in an interview with krone.at. The striker now also has the opportunity to audition for national team coach Ralf Rangnick.
88th minute on Saturday in Hartberg: With the score at 1: 1, Rapid tries to end a chaotic autumn in a conciliatory way. With a lot of willpower, it is possible to poke the ball over the line. And who was it? Of course, Bernhard Zimmerman. “An important goal for the team and also for me,” said the scorer. The attacker has six goals this season (five in the league, one in the ÖFB Cup). All fell in the famous “rapid quarter hour”. Only 46 minutes in five games Coach Ferdinand Feldhofer had to vacate his office in Hütteldorf in mid-October. Sports director Zoran Barisic has been on the sidelines of the green-whites ever since. In the previous five league games under the new boss, Zimmermann only played a total of 46 minutes. “I am a player who questions a lot. But I stand behind the team and will do my part,” he says professionally. With a fighter mentality in the hearts of the fans If you look again at the social media and forums, it becomes clear that a large number of fans support the 1.80- Meter man want to see in the starting XI. Again and again the fighter’s heart is emphasized. A mentality that some Rapid supporters had recently missed. One of Zimmermann’s strengths is being able to liven up a game. He scored all of his goals this season as a joker. “But I also proved last season that if I play from the start, I can score my goals. Of course I want to play from the start again. If I bring my performance to the pitch, that will be the case again,” is his declaration of war. “The train is rolling.” There were ten points in the last four games – Rapid is improving again. “Berni” sees the development of the team under coach Zoran Barisic positively: “We improved from the points, but we also know that there were many close games. At the moment we’re a little luckier than our opponents.” Fourth in the league, Hütteldorfer go into the World Cup break. In this it is important to work on the fine-tuning, “because we have a lot of potential in the team,” says Zimmermann. The aim is to secure participation in the master group as quickly as possible. “We had an extreme upheaval that year. It is clear that not everything works overnight. But the train is slowly starting to roll!” Rapid won’t get bored during the winter break. On November 26th, the future club boss Alexander Wrabetz will be elected. “Hopefully the people who are elected will then make good decisions for Rapid.” Training under Rangnick But at the moment it’s red-white-red instead of green-white. In the first game of the U21 course in Croatia there was a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Turkey in Medulin on Thursday. Zimmermann, who was in action until the 84th minute, always posed a threat on the offensive. On Monday, the duel with hosts Croatia awaits in Pula. After that, Zimmermann goes to the training course for perspective players under the direction of team boss Ralf Rangnick together with U21 head coach Werner Gregoritsch. A great honor for Zimmermann. “I’m looking forward to showing myself,” said the young Rapidler.
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