Das Team dark horses no more - Ralf Rangnick on ‘incredible’ Austrian group win, defeat of the Dutch and RB Leipzig return

Macdara Ferris reports from the Olympiastadion in Berlin

Even drawn in a difficult group with the Dutch, French and Poles, ahead of the tournament some had mentioned Austria as a dark horse for this European Championship. After topping Group D and with no other team bar maybe Spain looking in top form, you certainly cannot discount an overall Euro 2024 victory for Das Team.

That might have be hard to believe for some football fans who felt current Austrian manager Ralf Rangnick was a figure of fun following his failure at Manchester United where in 2021/22 they finished sixth with just 58 points.

The former sporting director at Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig, went on to qualify Austria for the Euros losing just one game in the qualifiers – finishing just a point behind Belgium – and in the tournament have now topped Group D by beating Poland and defeating the Dutch, having only lost narrowly 1-0 to France in their opening game.

Rangnick will now return to Leipzig for their last 16 clash against either Türkiye or Czechia, with a possible quarter-final to come back in Berlin against the winner of Group E (Belgium, Romania, Slovakia and Urkaine are all locked on three points) or a third placed team.

It is reported he turned down a move to take over at Bayern Munich ahead of the Euros.

After his team’s thrilling 3-2 win over the Netherlands on Tuesday, in the post-match press conference in the basement of Berlin’s Olympiastadion, Rangnick was asked about the chances of returning to the venue on 14^thJuly and winning the final.

Incredible

“It is still not very likely but we aren’t thinking about winning the tournament,” said Rangnick who will celebrate his 66^th birthday on Saturday. “The lads want to go as far as possible. It is incredible to top the group.” 

International football managers have far less time to work with their players than at club level but tournament time is a big help and it has been remarked that Austria is like a club side.

Several players in his squad have come through the Red Bull system with Rangnick noting that “we have three players in our squad who play in Leipzig and it is a place where I was before.”

Rangnick seems like a man who doesn’t really like the limelight. That was something that sprung to mind when he entered the basement of Berlin’s Olympiastadion for the press conference with a suit jacket over his bright white t-shirt and he asked if the bright lights could be dimmed a bit ahead of speaking to the media.

Unlike Ronald Koeman who before had answered in English questions put to him in that language, Rangnick was more comfortable listening to the English questions but answering in German. 

By winning the group, Austria have an extra day to prepare compared with their opponents in the last 16.

Rangnick confirmed that in consultation with non-playing captain David Alaba they were giving their team Wednesday off from training with the squad spending some time with their families who are staying in the team hotel.

Travel

Travel is also a factor that is helping Rangnick's team. Austria’s team training camp for the tournament is in Hertha Berlin’s training facility adjacent to the Olympiastadion where they have played their last two games.

They will play their last 16 just an hour or so south in Leipzig. Win that and they are back here in Berlin for the quarter-final.

“We have a week when we can prepare,” said Rangnick. “It is like the Bundesliga. We don’t have to travel a lot or fly. I’m happy to take the bus rather than plane.”

Das Team began the tournament with a defeat to France – no shame in losing to a team who have made three of the last four major tournament finals. They beat Poland 3-1 in the second game before their encounter against the Netherlands.

“We started with a 1-0 own goal loss versus France so we had pressure against Poland to win to have realistic chance of going through. (Against the Dutch) we were rewarded for courageous and energic performance.”

Rangnick, reflecting on the 3-2 win over the Netherlands where three times they took the lead, he said: “I thought we were brutally good in the first 20 minutes. It felt we had 80% of the ball which is difficult against Holland. 

“What impressed me was reaction of the team to both equalisers. We kept playing courageously.”

The win over the Dutch showed they were a team that was more than just about gegenpressing. They carved open the Netherlands with all three goals coming down the left exploiting the Dutch weakness on that flank. And they are doing all this without their talismanic injured captain David Alaba.

Red Bull Sabitzer

Marcel Sabitzer, who played on loan at Manchester United after Rangnick, got the winner against the Dutch and picked up the player of the match award. He is also making a return to Leipzig where he played, having also spent time on loan at Red Bull Salzburg. 

He enjoyed his time in Leipzig and is looking forward to a return but is expecting a better reception than his more recent visits when playing with Borussia Dortmund. “Generally I don’t care where I play but the last few times I was booed by the fans and that hurt me,” said Sabitzer.

“I was captain and played there for a good few years so I was disappointed but there will be a lot of Austrians so that will be more positive.”

The Austrian support dominated the Olympiastadion with Sabitzer saying that “we had so many Austrians in the stadium so we wanted to give something back” before going on to describe his winner in a fairly understated way. 

“I looked up and I had impression they had more men marking in the box. In the past my left foot has helped me so that was the moment to give it a try. As soon as it left my foot, I thought it would be nice.”

Match report from the Olympiastadion which was lit up by the brilliant bright Berlin sunshine, a cracking game & amazing atmosphere. Das Team win Group D while the Dutch Oranje make it as a best third team.

Euro 2024 Report: Netherlands 2 - 3 Austria https://t.co/DGoRlVV1Ne

— Macdara Ferris (@macdarabueller) June 25, 2024