Yesterday, David Alaba joined the red-white-red national football team, who will continue the UEFA Nations League in Saint-Denis against reigning world champions France on Thursday (8.45 p.m., ORF 1) in a brilliant mood. The 30-year-old team captain continues to ride the wave of success with Real Madrid.
Despite the treble of the Spanish championship, Champions League and European Super Cup, the hunger remains unquenched, the “White Ballet” storms into the new season flawlessly. The prestigious 2-1 win at local rivals Atletico Madrid was their ninth competitive win in a row. And that despite the fact that the walking goal factory Karim Benzema is not available due to a knee injury.
Benzema’s strong representatives
The 34-year-old Frenchman will not become Alaba’s opponent in the Paris suburbs, the injured status does not allow him to be used on Thursday. Nevertheless, the Equipe tricolore has enormous quality on the offensive.
Just think of Paris SG superstar Kylian Mbappe, Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig), Germany’s player of the 2021/22 season, or AC Milan center forward Olivier Giroud , who has scored four direct goals in the Serie A shoot-out to hunt down leading FC Bologna attacker Marko Arnautovic (six goals). Incidentally, the latter would become the ÖFB record international with appearances in France and on Sunday in Vienna against Croatia. Arnautovic currently has 102 caps under his belt, leader Andreas Herzog has 103.
“Greatest Single Player Quality”
The fact that France national coach Didier Deschamps received two more cancellations yesterday with goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris (Tottenham) and left-back Theo Hernandez (AC Milan) does not change the role of favourite.
“For me, the French still have the squad with the best individual player quality in the world. They can fill any position with three or four top players,” emphasized ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick.
The preparation time for the duel with “Les Bleus” is limited. It’s a day and a half if you include the players’ travel to the course and flight to Paris. After arriving in Vienna, Alaba continued to the Bruno Gala, where he was to be awarded Legionnaire of the Year. A special award was intended for coach Oliver Glasner, who led Frankfurt to the Europa League title.
European champion Italy comes to Vienna
Austria’s national soccer team has landed a prominent test opponent for the last international match of the year. The red-white-red team will meet none other than the reigning European champions Italy on November 20th in Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium. This offers the chance for revenge for the narrowly lost European Championship round of 16 in 2021. At that time, the Squadra Azzurra won 2-1 after extra time at Wembley Stadium in London. The ÖFB goal was scored by Sasa Kalajdzic (114th), Federico Chiesa (95th) and Matteo Pessina (105th) scored for the Italians.
Coach Ralf Rangnick’s team will face Andorra in Malaga on November 16th. Around this date, a multi-day training camp is planned on Spanish soil.
Source: Nachrichten
