Ralf Rangnick’s Austria have been knocked out of Euro 2024 (Photo: Getty)
Austria manager Ralf Rangnick appeared to aim a jab at England after his side were knocked out of Euro 2024 by Turkey on Tuesday night.
In a thrilling encounter in Leipzig, Turkey advanced to the quarter-final stage with a 2-1 win that included the fastest knockout goal in Euros history.
But it’s the end of road for Austria who had emerged as tournament dark horses after impressively topping a group that also featured France, the Netherlands and Poland.
Rangnick’s efforts have been widely praised, with only Germany and Spain scoring more than their seven goals over the first four rounds of the tournament.
In fact they’ve scored as many goals as early favourites England and France combined, a point that Rangnick seemed to want to make clear in his post-match press conference.
‘I think the four games we played were very entertaining, including today’s game,’ the former Manchester United boss said.
‘Not everything went accurately. We could have played a few passes better, but they were four very entertaining games, very intense, super intense.
Austria had been tournament dark horses (Photo: Getty)
‘I’ve seen other games where it was difficult to even stay awake and that was not the case with our games.
‘Now we need to take it with us into the Nations League and then into the World Cup qualification. If we continue to play the way we have in these four games, then we have a good chance to qualify for the World Cup.’
It is fair to say that England and France have played out some of the duller games at the Euros, with the latter yet to have one of their own players score from open play (two own goals and a penalty).
Fellow tournament giants Portugal can also be included in this dig having failed to score in their last two games against minnows Georgia and Slovenia, only reaching the quarter-finals via a penalty shootout against the latter.
But as Rangnick bemoaned, they had something Austria did not: ‘We didn’t have the necessary luck.
‘I believe if the game had gone into extra time, we would have had a chance to win the game because I think Turkey were fairly exhausted at the end and we had a physical advantage.
‘We didn’t score enough goals or create enough chances and in the set pieces we didn’t defend very well. At the second one, we had three players who were very good at headers, but [Merih] Demiral still scored.
‘And if you’re behind two goals then things aren’t any easier. The team tried everything, we then scored one goal and we had enough time to achieve a draw but it’s difficult if you have Gordon Banks in the goal,’ referencing Mert Gunok’s miraculous injury time save.
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