Austria 0-1 France
Didier Deschamps’ France picked up a win in their opening match but they had to work hard as Austria put in a fighting performance to push Les Bleus all the way.
Euro 2024: Austria vs France was one of the standout fixtures of the opening round of games and it certainly delivered as Ralf Rangnick’s Austria gave it a real go; but a stroke of bad luck, and shaky defending meant the underdogs left empty-handed.
Les Bleus had a half-time advantage courtesy of a Max Wober own goal and that after Austria had spurned a golden chance, and while there were more opportunities at both ends of the pitch that was the crucial blow.
The other fancied teams must have been watching the Austria vs France 2024 updates more in hope than anticipation, and any thoughts of a France flop have disappeared without trace.
Highlights of the game
Austria’s plan was pretty clear, a high energy pressing game planned to give Les Bleus little time to settle; but what this tactic can’t always counter is the explosive pace at which France can break, and on eight minutes, Kylian Mbappe had the first big chance. Theo Hernandez, who was so sharp in the early stages, broke away and fed Mbappe who raced away from the Austria defence and saw his shot turned round the post by Patrick Pentz.
Antoine Griezmann had a number of opportunities to put dangerous balls into the penalty area but the Austria defence held firm, and then the underdogs had a golden chance to grab a lead. Marcel Sabitzer played a clever ball through to Christoph Baumgartner and he was clean through but Mike Maignan made a brilliant stop to deny the Red Bull Leipzig man.
And, within two minutes, France made the Austrians pay.
Mbappe picked up the ball on the right and his dazzling close control sent the Austrian defence into panic, Max Wober turning Mbappe’s cross into his own net to give the French a half time lead.
Ten minutes into the second half Les Bleus should have doubled their lead as Mbappe burst through for a one-on-one with Pentz, but with the goal at his mercy Real Madrid’s new star somehow clipped the ball wide. France had two more big chances, midway through the second half when Griezmann was inches away from turning in a Hernandez cross and then Marcus Thuram shot straight at Pentz with the follow-up.
At 1-0 Austria were always in the game and, with 15 minutes left on the clock, Baumgartner had a sniff of a chance on the right side of the penalty area but Maignan came out to smother the danger. And then N’Golo Kante made a wonderful tackle to deny Patrick Wimmer as he bore down on goal.
Late substitute and France’s all-time top scorer Olivier Giroud had a huge chance to seal the deal when Randal Kolo Muani pulled the ball back for him but he took an air kick and 1-0 turned out to be enough.
Key statistics
Les Bleus are one of the favourites to win Euro 2024 and the Austria vs France 2024 betting odds strongly backed a winning start for Deschamps’ men. But Austria came into the game with just one defeat in 16 games and they edged possession and both teams had three shots on target.
This was the France boss’ 100th win as manager but Mbappe incredibly still hasn’t scored in a European Championships finals match; and it was the first game in the tournament (the tenth to be played) to get through 30 minutes without a goal.
What’s next?
This is the tournament which just keeps on giving and Monday threw up some incredible results. The usually goal shy Romania beat Ukraine 3-0 and then the highly fancied Belgium were beaten 1-0 by Slovakia in the first major shock of Euro 2024. Here at SBOTOP we didn’t see that one coming but then neither did anyone else!
On Tuesday, the last of the fancied nations take a bow when Roberto Martinez’ Portugal takes on the Czech Republic, while Turkey and Georgia come face to face in the other Group F tie as the first round of fixtures comes to a close.
Then we’re off again and the standout fixture over the next few days is the Group B clash between Spain and Italy, who both won their opening games and already have their eyes on the knockout phase.
Back in Group D, it’s the Netherlands next for France and Poland for Austria. The Oranje picked up a narrow 2-1 win over Poland on Sunday as Burnley striker Wout Weghorst scored a late winner.
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