ÖFB captain Alaba: “I’m super proud and super happy”

Austria’s national soccer team is approaching the 2024 European Championship finals in Germany with seven league boots. The ticket is almost booked, but the red-white-red protagonists remain on the ground in the decisive 3-1 (0-0) victory over Sweden in the Friends Arena in Solna. They danced in front of the sector with the 800 battlegoers, but appeared grounded in the interviews. Nobody wants to praise the day before the (celebration) evening.

“It’s not mathematically fixed yet,” said ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick: “We still need a win.” Even two points would be enough, maybe even zero if Sweden slips up, which is not unrealistic when playing against the strong Belgians. “I’m convinced we’ll do it,” added Rangnick: “Maybe we’ll finish first in the group. In the first half, when we had the ball, we didn’t really do what we wanted to do on the pitch. In the second half, we Gregerl ( Gregoritsch, note) placed in the ten, that did us good. We then had more ball possession and moments of transition. In the first half we also had some good opportunities, but played far too little through the full-backs. In the second half “We scored two goals through the full-backs. We then played really well. If the stadium is half empty ten minutes before the end, the away team must have done something wrong.”

“We have taken a big step”

Marko Arnautovic justified his nomination for the starting eleven with a brace. But the Inter star isn’t thinking about making big noises: “We’re overjoyed that we won in Sweden. Nothing is fixed yet. We’ve taken a big step, but it’s not over yet. Our goal is it was to be first. We knew that the Swedes would press us. In the first half it was kick and rush from both sides, in the second half we did better. I didn’t want to take the penalty like that, but it scored is goal. Scoring goals is my job. But we try to work hard up front so that the team can win, that’s the most important thing.” In the all-time ÖFB top scorers list, Arnautovic is now second behind Toni Polster: “It’s somehow a goal, but not my number one. The most important goal is to be at the EURO. Best regards, Toni.”

“We want to win every game”

Michael Gregoritsch set the course with the 1-0 win. “We are very happy and overjoyed. I think that (goal to make it 1-0) was the door opener. We weren’t that good in the first half, we had a bit of luck in one situation or another. But I had “We never had the feeling that things could go against us. The team is very, very stable and good. You can see how everyone sticks together.” Captain David Alaba can only confirm that: “I’m super proud and super happy that we were able to get three points. That was our goal. We want to keep going. We’re on the right track. It’s a lot of fun at the moment.”

Phillipp Mwene, who took the penalty to make it 3-0, was relieved: “We had to fight back in the first half. With the 1-0 win we got all the energy. I’m proud of the team. We know that “It was a very, very big step, also mentally. We will approach the next games like we did today, we want to win every game.”