Ralf Rangnick (ÖFB team boss): “Of course we got off to a really good start, this goal alone was probably worth the price of admission. After that we didn’t play a good first half, especially when we had the ball we made a lot of unforced errors, which I’m not used to from us. The second half was significantly better, both through the changes and through the approach. We let the opponent come a little more, closed the middle more, then things went the way we had imagined from the start. Through today’s game Already recommended a few more players.”
Marcel Sabitzer (ÖFB captain): “It wasn’t a confident victory. We played sloppily, especially in the first half, were technically very poor and invited them to counterattack situations. Luckily we were able to defend that away, but in a few months you won’t be able to afford that. We’re happy with the win, but that could have been better.”
Christoph Baumgartner (ÖFB goalscorer): “There’s definitely room for improvement. Especially in the first half, we weren’t aggressive enough in our attacking press, which is one of our greatest strengths. We can also handle a few switching situations better. We made too many simple mistakes when playing with the ball “The pitch also played a part in that. But a 2-0 win isn’t bad despite everything.”
About his goal, he said to ORF: “We have done this variation several times, sprinting away from the kick-off at full risk. The sequence of steps somehow worked out so that I made the run.”
Francesco Calzona (Slovakia coach): “We did the maximum, we played against a very strong opponent. I thanked the players and they said that a few years ago we would have lost more clearly against such an opponent. Austria has a strong team, I think they will be the surprise of the European Championships.”
This article was updated at 9:06 p.m.
