Austria impress leaving Poland pointless

Group D

Poland 1-3 Austria

Late goals by Christoph Baumgartner and Marko Arnautovic gave Austria a hard-fought win over Poland and boosted their hopes of reaching the last 16 at Euro 2024.

With both teams losing their opening matches in Group D, to France and the Netherlands, they came to Berlin knowing that another defeat would put them on the brink of elimination.

The high stakes gave the encounter the feel of a knockout tie, with both sets of fans creating a noisy atmosphere at the Olympiastadion, matched by a frenetic tempo on the pitch.

It was Austria who struck first, when Gernot Trauner rose at the near post to head home Phillipp Mwene’s cross.

Poland were struggling to get out of their own half at that point but quickly improved and began pushing for an equaliser.

It arrived after 30 minutes, when a cross from the right was not properly cleared, and although Jan Bednarek’s shot was blocked, Krzysztof Piatek was first to the rebound to fire low into the net.

Clear chances were at a premium after that, even when Poland’s talismanic striker Robert Lewandowski belatedly emerged off the bench, but as the game entered the final stages, it was Austria who found the inspiration they needed.

Arnautovic’s dummy allowed Baumgartner time and space to advance to the edge of the area, before he coolly slotted past Wojciech Szczesny.

Austria’s victory was sealed a few minutes later. With Poland pouring forward in search of an equaliser, Marcel Sabitzer ran clear and although he was brought down by Szczesny, Arnautovic converted the resulting penalty.

Arnautovic’s goal sparked wild celebrations from the Austria fans, who had seen their side narrowly beaten by France in their opening game but now travel to Dortmund on Tuesday to take on the Dutch with renewed hope they can still progress.

Poland, meanwhile, will become the first team to be knocked out of Euro 2024 if France and the Netherlands draw when they meet in Leipzig later on Friday.

Even if that outcome is avoided, their longer-term prospects appear bleak. After losing both their games so far, they have to beat tournament favourites France in their final fixture to have any chance of progressing.

They must hope that their record goalscorer Lewandowski is fit enough to start that match after recovering from his thigh injury, but even with him in the team they will face a daunting task.

He was only able to play in the final half an hour here and, although his introduction was greeted by a wild reaction from Poland fans in the stands, he was unable to have the desired impact in front of goal.

His team-mates could not supply him with a single chance to add to his tally of 82 international goals and instead it was the combustible Arnautovic, starting his first competitive game for Austria since September, who settled things.

Today’s earlier result:

Group E

• Slovakia 1-2 Ukraine