Poland became the first nation to be eliminated from Euro 2024 after a 3-1 defeat to Austria.
Goals from Gernot Trauner, Christoph Baumgartner and Marko Arnautovic sealed an impressive victory for Ralf Rangnick’s side in Berlin, who left their opponents with two defeats in their opening two Group D matches.
And following the goalless draw between the Netherlands and France later in the evening, Poland exited the competition with one match remaining.
Austria started the game at breakneck speed and their aggressive attacking approach paid off within 10 minutes, when Philipp Mwene clipped a cross to the near post, where Trauner pounced to head home an elegant header.
The intensity eased as the half progressed, allowing Poland to begin to come back; Nicola Zalewski fired a shot over the bar, before Philipp Lienhart diverted a Piotr Zielinski shot and bravely placed his header into the path of Przemyslaw Frankowski’s near-post cross.
At half an hour, they were back. A cross from the left caused panic in the penalty area and, after Jan Bednarek’s shot was blocked by Trauner, Krzysztof Piatek took control and equalized.
The Polish contingent in the stands received a boost when talisman Robert Lewandowski was introduced with half an hour to go, but Austria quickly regained the lead; Alexander Prass’ radical pass was simulated by Arnautovic and finished by Baumgartner.
The job was done after 78 minutes when Marcel Sabitzer was clumsily brought down by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the box, allowing former Stoke and West Ham frontman Arnautovic to calmly finish, securing the points and kick off Austria’s Euro 2024 campaign.
Statistics: Match story
Analysis – The incredible Austria is one to watch
Sam Blitz from Sky Sports:
Austria had a place in many analysts’ ‘dark horses’ selection for Euro 2024. You can certainly understand why after their latest exhibition.
Ralf Rangnick’s team won its first victory against Poland, but in a very attractive way.
Full-backs Stefan Posch and Philipp Mwene were arguably their best sources of attack. Holding midfielders Nicolas Seiwald and Konrad Laimer generated some of their best chances of the game. The Polish defense could not handle the running and the work of Christoph Baumgartner and Marcel Sabitzer in the half-spaces.
Austria are now on the brink of the knockout stages and face a big match against the Netherlands to seal their place.
Securing second place could be crucial as it could be England in the first knockout round if they finish third. But given the way both teams are playing, would it be that bad?
