Austria squad set for Belfast visit

Franco Foda has called up 23 players for Austria’s concluding UEFA Nations League ties.

Ahead of travelling to Belfast to take on Northern Ireland on Sunday 18 November, Austria will play Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Ernst-Happel Stadium in Vienna on 15 November.

Austria will be missing defender Florian Grillitsch. The Hoffenheim player had been named in the squad but picked up a toe injury that will keep him out of the final international matches of 2018.

Foda had named a number of players on call if required but has yet to officially name a replacement for Grillitsch.

Last month Das Team defeated Northern Ireland 1-0 in Vienna in their League B Group 3 clash, having lost their opening game to Bosnia & Herzegovina.

If Austria are to gain promotion into League A they will need to gain six points from these upcoming games and end up with a better head-to-head record with the team from the Balkans.

That won’t be any easy prospect as Robert Prosinecki’s team are unbeaten in eight games on the road (including five wins) and know a point will good enough for promotion.

For Michael O’Neill’s men the match in Belfast is a dead rubber in terms of promotion but is vital in their effort to avoid relegation to League C.

Austria squad in full:

GOALKEEPER: Heinz LINDNER (Grasshopper Club Zurich, 22 caps), Cican STANKOVIC (RB Salzburg, Uncapped); Richard STREBINGER (Rapid Vienna, 1). 

DEFENCE: David ALABA (Bayern Munich, 65/13 goals), Aleksandar DRAGOVIC (Bayer 04 Leverkusen, 68/1), Martin HINTEREGGER (Augsburg, 35/3 ), Stefan LAINER (RB Salzburg, 10/0), Andreas ULMER (RB Salzburg, 8/0), Kevin WIMMER (Hannover, 9/0). 

MIDFIELD: Julian BAUMGARTLINGER (Bayer 04 Leverkusen, 64/1), Florian GRILLITSCH (Hoffenheim, 13/1), Stefan ILSANKER (Leipzig, 33/0), Florian KAINZ (Werder Bremen, 12/0), Konrad LAIMER (RB Leipzig, uncapped), Valentino LAZARO (Hertha Berlin, 17/0), Marcel SABITZER (RB Leipzig, 33/5), Louis SCHAUB (Cologne, 11/5), Xaver SCHLAGER (RB Salzburg, 6/0), Alessandro SCHÖPF (Schalke, 21/4), Peter ZULJ (Sturm Graz, 8/0).

FORWARD: Marko ARNAUTOVIC ( West Ham United, 75/20), Guido BURGSTALLER (Schalke, 23/1), Michael GREGORITSCH (Augsburg, 9/1)

Julian Nagelsmann ????

"Florian Grillitsch hat sich eine Sehne im dritten Zeh gerissen. Ich gehe davon aus, dass er uns drei Wochen fehlen wird."#TSGFCApic.twitter.com/ZMHDI7QveV

— TSG Hoffenheim (@tsghoffenheim) November 9, 2018