The Austrian national football team begins a new era on Friday. The Nations League match in Osijek vs Croatia (8.45pm) will be the first match for Ralf Rangnick as head of the Austrian Football Association team. The German went through four training sessions with his new team until Thursday noon, before heading to the last press conference.
The German clearly describes his debut goal against the vice world champion: “It’s about controlling for me. We want to set the course of events, regardless of whether it’s the opponent or whether we have the ball,” says Rangnick. However, he will still be missing a key figure: David Alaba, who won the Champions League with Real Madrid a few days ago, will not make the trip to Croatia and on Saturday morning it will be in preparation for the second leg against Denmark the next day. On Monday (8.45 p.m.) he rejoins the team. “David joined the team only yesterday at noon. We talked about his situation and agreed that he will not go on the trip, but will be treated in Vienna and do units with his personal trainer,” Rangnick explains.
Xavier Schlager is well prepared for the match against Croatia. The first few days of training went well, “There was good movement inside. We had a lot of content and worked a lot against the ball and with the ball,” said the Wolfsburg player.
More Stories
SW Bregenz v. GAK
German Cup: Eintracht deceives Gladbach
Gmunden Sharks are waiting for ATSE Graz