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Christoph Baumgartner is cheered by his teammates after his winning goal
Photo:
Mihai Barbu / dpa
The duel of the game:
It was the 18th minute of the game when the Ukrainian defensive talent Illia Zabarnyi and Austria's midfield youngster Christoph Baumgartner clashed for the first time: After a Ukrainian corner kick, the duo collided with their heads, Baumgartner in particular had to be treated longer. As soon as the game started again and the ball on the other side of the field, it was the next duel. This time Austria had the corner, David Alaba's cross poked Baumgartner past the disoriented Zabarnyi into the net (21st minute). But the painful collision had an effect on the Austrian: Ten minutes later, Baumgartner was replaced when he was beaten; he had already sat down dazed on the lawn beforehand. It may have paid off in terms of sport, but dealing with head injuries in football still seems negligent.
The result:
It stayed 1-0 (1-0) - Austria, second in Group C, can look forward to the first knockout games at a major tournament since 1954. Read the match report here.
No shame: of
all people, Zabarnyi had already announced a rough pace in the run-up to the game: The Ukrainian team wanted to win the victory "with their blood," the 18-year-old promised. A draw would have been enough for Ukraine to advance, and Austria would also have had an excellent chance with one point to reach the second round as one of the four best thirds in the group. A new "shame of Gijón" - as such the World Cup game between West Germany and Austria went down in history in 1982 when a non-aggression pact sealed both sides' progress when the score was 1-0 - did not come about in Bucharest.
The first half:
Instead, the Austrians showed their best tournament performance so far. Alaba moved to his favored left-back position for the first time, but still had enough influence on the offensive: With eight corners kicked, the captain repeatedly caused danger, ultimately preparing the lead. What about Ukraine? Quickly got rid of the ball in midfield and was invisible beyond an easily defused shot by Mykola Shaparenko (29th). The ÖFB-Elf gave 13: 1 shots until the break.
On the podium:
The game was a special one for Austria's central defender Aleksandar Dragović. Not only because Dragović played football in Ukraine for three years and played with Ukrainian captain Andriy Yarmolenko at Dynamo Kiev from 2013 to 2016. With his 93rd international match, the 30-year-old also drew level with Gerhard Hanappi in the ranking of the Austrian record national players, only Toni Polster (95) and Andi Herzog (103) can show more games in the ÖFB dress.
Suddenly quite tame:
Matchwinner Baumgartner himself had suspected another key player before the game: Marko Arnautović was an »exceptional player«, an »absolute mentality creature«, and the praise for the striker from all over Austria was generally raining down. In the first group game against North Macedonia, Arnautović had only scored as a joker, then insulted opponent Ezgjen Aliovski and missed the Netherlands due to a subsequent suspension. On his comeback and starting eleven tournament debut, Arnautović rubbed himself out, had the emotions under control, but also missed a huge and a big chance for the preliminary decision (42nd, 45th + 2).
The second half:
The most prominent Ukrainian attacking player, midfield driver Ruslan Malinovskyi, was replaced by national coach Andrei Shevchenko during the break. And this is how the Ukraine acted: Austria was able to manage the result at will. The only goal risk was a clearing attempt by Stefan Lainers, who headed the ball onto his own box after a free kick (62nd), and a shot by Roman Yaremchuk, who streaked past the far post from an acute angle (87th).
Alpine acid test:
Austria now meets its southern neighbor in the round of 16: On Saturday (9 p.m., live ticker SPIEGEL.de; TV: ARD or ZDF, stream: Magenta) there will be a duel with Italy in London's Wembley Stadium, which will be three Wins without conceding a goal could secure first place in Group A. Whether Ukraine will also make it into the last 16 will only be decided after the group stage: Then it will be clear whether it was enough for a place among the four best thirds of the group.
