Austria Vs. France: Les Bleus Ready To Repeat Celebration, Red Devils Try To Face

Olivier Giroud, still a hope on the front lines of France (photo: x @equipedefrance)

JAKARTA - Merkur Spiel-Arena Stadium in D\"usseldorf will witness the closing match of Euro 2024 on Monday 17 June or Tuesday morning WIB, when Austria, who is in good form, will face favorite champions, France, in Group D.

Previously, Austria had never surpassed the last 16 of the continental championship, while France had collected two titles but still had several defeats to be redeemed for three years ago.

Austrian coach, Ralf Rangnick, has turned down the opportunity to replace Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich and even though his tenure at Manchester United did not go well. However, he managed to bring Austria to be one of the best performing teams on the continent.

Austria is only one point adrift of Belgium in qualifying, with six wins from eight games and only five points missing. This is Austria's fourth appearance at the Euros, after the campaign in 2008 and 2016 which ended prematurely without a win.

However, Austria finally got their Euro star in 2020, beating North Macedonia and Ukraine in the group stage before losing dramatically in extra time to Italy which eventually won. Records show that Austria could make a surprise in Group D, where Poland and the Netherlands are also tough opponents.

Meanwhile, France, which won the 2018 World Cup and the Nations League three years ago, experienced disappointment in the last two major tournaments. Didier Deschamps, the only living person to win the World Cup as a player and manager, remains a coach for France's 11th Euro campaign, with two titles in 1984 and 2000.

In this match, several important Austrian players were sidelined due to injuries, including David Alaba and Sasa Kalajdzic who suffered an ACL injury, as well as Xaver Schlager who were also absent due to knee problems. However, veteran striker Marko Arnautovic is included in the squad, although Michael Gregoritsch is expected to fill ninth place in Rangnick's 4-2-3-1 formation.

In addition, Stefan Posch, who has just recovered from a knee problem, is ready to play in the back, although Gernot Trauner is absent from training on Friday as a precaution.

For France, Kingsley Coman was sick but is expected to be able to play, as well as Kyllian Mbappe who suffered a clash on his knee in a friendly victory against Luxembourg. Aurelien Tchouameni is still recovering from a leg injury, so Adrien Rabiot is expected to fill the midfield position.

Arsenal defender William Saliba, who was initially not expected to be played, is now likely to replace Ibrahima Konate on the bench.

Even without Alaba, Austria is still a team that is difficult to beat under Rangnick's leadership and has hopes of making an early surprise if they see their performance lately. However, with a dynamic attack, the French team is predicted to succeed in breaking up the Austrian defense and winning the first three points.

The match between France and Austria in the group stage UEFA Euro 2024 will be their third meeting in a major tournament (World Cup and Euro). Both teams had one win each from the previous two meetings, both of which took place at the FIFA World Cup: in 1934 (3-2 for Austria) and 1982 (1-0 for France).

Austria have won only one of their last ten matches against France in all competitions (D2 L7) a 3-1 win in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Vienna in September 2008.

Austria appeared for the fourth time at the UEFA Euro, including their third appearance in a row. Their previous performance before that was in 2008, when they automatically qualified as co-hosts. Austria was eliminated by the final champions of Italy in the round of 16 of the 2020 (2-1 aet) edition, their best achievement in the tournament.

Two Austrian wins at UEFA Euro (in 10 matches) took place against North Macedonia and Ukraine in the 2020 edition. They scored only more than one goal on one occasion in 10 matches, namely against North Macedonia (3-1).

Marcel Sabitzer was involved in six goals in seven appearances during the UEFA Euro 2024 (4 goals, 2 assists) qualification, the most among Austrian players. Sabitzer also created the most chances (4) and had the highest total expected assists (1.6) among Austrian players.

France are following the UEFA Euro for the 11th time, including their ninth appearance in a row, the second-longest record after Germany (14). Only Germany and Spain (3 each) won more European Championships than France (2, in 1984 and 2000).

France reached the finals in three of their last four major tournaments: the winners who lost at Euro 2016, the winner of the 2018 World Cup, the finalists who lost at the 2022 World Cup. The only exception was at Euro 2020 when they were eliminated by Switzerland in the round of 16.

Nearly half of France's 29 goals in qualifying came in one match their 14-0 win against Gibraltar on November 18, 2023, which was the biggest winning margin in the Euro qualifying match.

A total of 12 Kylian Mbappe's goals for France in a major tournament all occurred at the World Cup. In his only previous Euro appearance, he failed to score from 14 of his shots, and he also missed his penalty shootout on penalties against Switzerland in the last 16.

Since Euro 2016, France's Antoine Griezmann has been directly involved in more goals (18) than any other European player in a major tournament (World Cup + Euro): 11 goals + 7 assists in 25 matches.

If Didier Deschamps of France lifts the trophy at Euro 2024, he will be the first to win the World Cup and European Championships both as a player and head coach. He is also one of two managers at Euro 2024 who won the tournament as a player alongside Ronald Koeman in 1988.

Austrian Lineup Predictions: Pentz; Posch, Danso, Wober, Mwene; Siewald, Grillitsch; Laimer, Sabitzer, Baumgartner; Gregoritsch

French Lineup Predictions: Maignan; Kounde, Saliba, Upamecano, Hernandez; Kante, Rabiot; Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe; Thuram