France still without a win
Kylian Mbappé prevented Ralf Rangnick’s next respectable success as Austria’s team boss. With his goal in the 83rd minute, the Paris Saint-Germain striker saved world champion France in the Nations League on Friday a 1-1 (0-1) in Vienna. Andreas Weimann (37th minute) initially put Rangnick’s team in the lead at the Ernst Happel Stadium.
After a strong first half, which was also attested by Rangnick, the ÖFB selection came under increasing pressure in the second round. After Mbappé’s substitution in the 63rd minute, the French pushed for the equalizer, which the 23-year-old finally scored on the assist of Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku. His defense behaved “simply naively” when the goal was conceded, as Rangnick subsequently stated. The team had previously caused problems for the world champion with Rangnick’s pressing football. But Weimann’s goal after a nice counterattack via ex-Bremer Marko Arnautovic did not succeed.
“We didn’t allow much until the 83rd minute,” Rangnick summed up after the game (quoted via “Kronen Zeitung”). That’s why he was “satisfied with the game overall, but not at all with the result. Nothing feels like congratulations at the moment.” Defender David Alaba, who was also disappointed, sees his dissatisfaction as a sign of a change in Austrian thinking. The former Bayern Real Madrid professional said: “It just goes to show that maybe somewhere we’re fed up with playing a certain kind of football, like we may have had over and over again in previous years.”
After beating runners-up Croatia 3-0 on matchday one and losing 2-1 to Denmark, Austria is now second in its Nations League group. First is Denmark despite a 0-1 (0-0) against Croatia. Mario Pasalic (69th) scored the decisive goal in Copenhagen. France, meanwhile, are in last place in Group 1, since the draw in Austria also meant that the third game could not be won. Two draws and a bankruptcy (against the Danes) already put the world champions four points behind the leaders from the north.
Alaba at the top: the most valuable Austrians
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