One of many managers to turn down the chance to replace Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich before the deposed German champions turned to Vincent Kompany, Ralf Rangnick – in spite of his ill-fated spell in the Manchester United hotseat – has been well and truly working his magic with Austria, who arrive in their neighbouring nation as one of the most in-form teams on the continent.
Finishing just one point adrift of Belgium in their qualifying section, having posted six wins from a possible eight while dropping just five points along the way, Euros appearance number four is now on the menu for Austria, whose 2008 and 2016 campaigns ended prematurely with no wins under their belts.
However, Das Team belatedly earned their Euros stars in 2020, overcoming North Macedonia and Ukraine in the group stages before an excruciating extra-time defeat to eventual champions Italy, and the form book suggests that a surprise can be sprung in Group D.
While Poland and the Netherlands will provide daunting opposition, Rangnick has overseen a magnificent spell of results since a 3-2 loss to Belgium in Euros qualifying, masterminding six straight wins before a 1-1 draw with Switzerland on June 8 stopped the train in its tracks.
Among the notable results in that stellar sequence were a 2-0 defeat of neighbouring Germany and 6-1 demolition of fellow Euro 2024 competitors Turkey – where Michael Gregoritsch’s hat-trick suggested that life without Marko Arnautovic will go on as normal when the veteran eventually retires – while Estonia, Azerbaijan, Serbia and Slovakia also fell victim to Austrian superiority.
Nevertheless, the aforementioned defeat at the hands of the Belgians represents Austria’s sole defeat from their last 16 matches across all competitions, and not since September 2022 have Das Team drawn a blank in front of goal; a word of warning for a France outfit with a point to prove.
Before severing ties with Paris Saint-Germain and completing his long-awaited switch to Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappe went from hero to zero as his penalty miss against Switzerland condemned France to a last-16 Euro 2020 exit, before he trudged up to the podium with a face like thunder to collect his World Cup 2022 Golden Boot following Argentina’s 12-yard triumph.
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In spite of recent shortcomings and Zinedine Zidane lurking in the background, Didier Deschamps – now the only living man to win a World Cup as a player and manager – remains in the hotseat to oversee France’s 11th Euros campaign, two of which in 1984 and 2000 saw Les Bleus go all the way.
Since that David Trezeguet golden goal against Italy, though, France’s only Euros run of any real note came at the 2016 edition – where they were coincidentally stunned by a golden goal of sorts from Portugal’s Eder in the showpiece – following quarter-final exits in 2004 and 2012 and a 2008 group-stage departure.
Among France’s seven qualifying wins was a record 14-0 obliteration of Gibraltar, but even though Deschamps’s men were comfortable 3-0 victors over Luxembourg in their first friendly of the month, a drab goalless draw with Canada on June 9 was hardly the ideal send-off.
However, not since Euro 2012 have Les Bleus been defeated in a group-stage affair, and they had Austria’s number during the most recent Nations League cycle, being held to a 1-1 draw in June 2022 before a straightforward 2-0 Stade de France success a few months down the line.
