European Football Championship: Alaba feels comfortable as “non-playing captain”

In this role, Alaba is a link between the support team and the team, he takes part in coaching meetings, is also close to his teammates – and is visibly comfortable with his new task, as he said on Saturday in Berlin.

And yet there remains a big downside: Alaba can only watch the ÖFB selection’s performances from the bench. “Of course there are always moments when you would rather be on the pitch. That’s completely normal and will always be my goal. On the other hand, I try to support the team as best I can,” said the Viennese. His role has “not changed significantly,” stressed Alaba. “I am the captain of this team, I want to lead the way and make the difference with my presence.”

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The four-time Champions League winner has already experienced enough knockout phases at club level. His conclusion: “We must not make the mistake of straying from our path. We must follow our plan and still try to stay relaxed, approach the games as we have done before and believe in our strengths.” Nervousness and a certain amount of tension are not bad. “The trick is to transform it so that you are focused,” said Alaba.

Success as a logical consequence

So far, it has worked well, as demonstrated by winning the group ahead of France and the Netherlands. For Alaba, this success was just the logical consequence of working with team manager Ralf Rangnick and therefore not surprising. “We have been on a path that looks very good, and not just since the European Championships. You also need a very good squad for that. We always knew that we had enormous potential in the team.”

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The conditions at the 2016 European Championship (out in the group stage) and the 2021 European Championship (out in the round of 16) were less good. “If you look at our squad now, in terms of quality and depth, it’s different than it was eight years ago,” said Alaba. “At the moment everything is really going extremely well, we also have a certain unity as a team, which is very special.”

To get this far, we had to “go through a process so that we play the way we do today,” explained Alaba. “I wouldn’t want to miss the time before that. All of that was necessary to get to where we are today.”

Favorite role against Turkey

Due to their current top form, the ÖFB selection is considered the favorite ahead of the European Championship round of 16 match against Turkey in Leipzig on Tuesday. Alaba is not bothered by this. “We realize that expectations are high, but we have known that from previous years. We are not letting ourselves be driven crazy by it. We have our own standards, and of course we want to live up to them. We are not going to let ourselves be dissuaded from our path,” announced the 32-year-old.

Accordingly, the 6:1 win against the Turks in the test in Vienna last March is no longer a big issue. “We know that it will be a completely different game,” said Alaba. The ÖFB star was full of praise for his Turkish Real club colleague Arda Güler. “He is a great boy, a talent with incredible potential and very high quality. He already showed that at the European Championships, and he shows it in every training session at Real.”

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In contrast to the 19-year-old, Hakan Calhanoglu cannot play against Austria – the director is missing due to a yellow card suspension. “The fact that he is out is something that hurts them in some way. But we are only concerned with ourselves,” explained Alaba.

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