Austria manager Ralf Rangnick told reporters his Austria side were disappointed to lose 1-0 to France tonight, but praised their effort as he looks ahead to their decisive game against Poland
Though the joint tournament favourites France came away with all three points, only Maximilian Wöber’s first-half own goal separated the sides and Austria had plenty of chances to cause an upset in Group D.
What did Ralf Rangnick say?
Embed from Getty Images“It’s obvious that we are disappointed with this result – in 100 minutes we didn’t concede one goal from France, the only goal was a very unfortunate own goal.
“We lost the match. Let’s be fair, France had more chances and it was a deserved win. But until the last minute, we were in it. We put everything on the pitch.
He also pointed out that France were one of the toughest tests his team would face, calling them “one of the best opponents on this planet“.
“I think that Didier Deschamps was very happy when the final whistle came and I think that shows the right performance.
“Our playing style worked for long periods.
“We created chances. Of course, France also created chances. Patrick Pentz, our goalkeeper, did a great job. I have no reproaches towards my team. They didn’t always make the right decision, but let’s not forget who the opponents were.”
It was ironic that, in a game where not even the likes of Kylian Mbappé could find the net, it was Leeds United Maximilian Wöber who made the difference with an own goal in the 38th minute. Despite the disappointment at the result, Rangnick was quick to support the defender.
Embed from Getty Images“No-one is reproaching him anything but what is really important is that he doesn’t reproach anything to himself. Among the team members, among the staff, everyone knows it was a situation that was super unfortunate.”
Speaking about what his team could improve on, he said: “We didn’t always play the right passes, we weren’t always courageous enough according to our match plan.
“Let’s not forget the pressure in these kind of matches – it’s normal that the players are not always taking the right decisions.”
Looking ahead to their next fixture against Poland, Rangnick said: “Whoever wins our game against Poland will likely go through. But we knew before the tournament that the second game would likely be decisive.
“The Poland game will be like a final and that’s how we approach it.
“I haven’t analysed Poland yet because we were in the preparation for this match today but from tomorrow on it will be different.”
Finally, Rangnick was asked to comment on some of the controversial refereeing decisions and was conservative.
“I don’t think (the distribution of cards) was representative of the match but it doesn’t matter. We’re looking forward now, we’re looking to the future and we’ll do everything on Friday to win the match.
“We won’t think about bookings, we will put the best team on the pitch against Poland.”
Follow reaction to France’s narrow victory, and every other game of EURO2024, here on FromTheSpot.