Austria vs Croatia
UEFA Nations League
Group A1
Ernst-Happel-Stadion
Croatia were on top of their group heading into this fixture. The team needed to win to retain the position. Their opponents meanwhile, with just a win this campaign would have hoped to pull off an upset.
The visitors opened the scoring, with veteran Modrić getting on the scoresheet. Baumgartner, however, almost immediately found the equaliser. The scoreline remained 1-1 at half time.
Croatia went ahead then extended the lead with goals from Livaja and Lovren, within a space of 3 minutes. This was enough for the nation to seal a 1-3 win and a top place finish.
Austria vs Croatia: Match report
Full time score: Austria 1-3 Croatia
Scorers: 0:1 Modrić (6′), 1:1 Baumgartner (9′), 1:2 Livaja (69′), 1:3 Lovren (72′).
Austria: Lindner – Trimmel (62′ Lainer), Posch (62′ Wöber), Danso, Alaba – Sabitzer, Seiwald, Schlager, Baumgartner (82′ Schmid) – Arnautović (63′ Saračević), Gregoritsch (82′ Onisiwo). Selectman: R. Rangnick.
Croatia: Livaković – Stanišić, Lovren, Gvardiol, Barišić (62′ Sosa) – Kovačić (84′ Kramarić), Brozović (18′ Majer), Modrić – Vlašić (84′ Pašalić), Budimir (62′ Livaja), Perišić. Selectman: Z. Dalić.
Yellow cards: Sabitzer, Posch (Austria), Perišić, Lovren (Croatia).
Referee: A. Dias (Portugal)
Post match reactions
Ralf Rangnick: “I think we played a really good game for 65 minutes. We had two huge chances when the score was 1-1, where we should actually take the lead. In the end it’s a very disappointing result, we just didn’t pay attention twice at the far post. In hindsight, the adjustments and changes didn’t really help us.”
David Alaba:”It’s very bitter because in the first half we played exactly what we wanted. We came back after the 1-0 and had a chance to take the lead and also score a third goal. We just have to try to kill the game in the first half. In order to decide such a game, you have to use the chances you have. We could have defended a bit better when we conceded.”
Marko Arnautovic:”If we score the two goals in the first half, then it looks very different. Baumi ran in the middle of the goal, I think it was an acute angle for me. I hit the ball well, but the goalie saved very well too. We could have counterattacked with a goal, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We probably need to be more efficient, we need to score more goals up front.”
