Updated at 19.22
AUSTRIA BOOSTED their hopes of reaching the Euro 2024 knockout rounds on Friday as Marko Arnautovic scored in an impressive 3-1 win over Poland, for whom Robert Lewandowski only managed an ineffective substitute appearance.
Ralf Rangnick’s Austria will likely secure qualification for the last 16 if they can avoid defeat in their final Group D game against the Netherlands on Tuesday.
Poland can no longer finish in the top two and almost certainly need to defeat France to have any chance of progressing as one of the four best third-placed teams.
Gernot Trauner headed Austria into a deserved early lead before Krzysztof Piatek, who had missed their opening loss to the Netherlands, equalised for Poland in the 30th minute.
Lewandowski was introduced for his first appearance of the tournament with half an hour remaining but was a peripheral figure as Poland slipped to the brink of elimination.
Christoph Baumgartner put Austria back in front after a fine team move and an end-to-end game was killed off by Arnautovic’s 78th-minute penalty.
Austria, who reached the knockout phase at a major tournament for the first time since 1954 at Euro 2020, will be sure of going through if they defeat the Dutch, who face France later on Friday.
Lewandowski was not fit enough to start after suffering a thigh injury last week, despite Poland coach Michal Probierz saying he was hopeful the Barcelona striker would be able to play.
Fans from the two countries, which both border Germany, packed out the Olympiastadion.
The Poland supporters who had made the short trip outnumbered their counterparts, but it was the wall of fans in red Austrian shirts who were bouncing up and down in celebration less than nine minutes in.
Their team started dominantly and were rewarded with the lead when defender Trauner powered a header past Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after clever wing play from left-back Phillipp Mwene.
Poland grew into the contest, though, and Nicola Zalewski passed up a good opportunity to equalise when he blazed over.
The two most recent meetings between the teams, in Euro 2020 qualifying, produced only one goal.
- Piatek strikes -
But an entertaining game this time was level just before the half-hour mark, as Piatek pounced to slot in from close range after Trauner blocked Jan Bednarek’s shot.
Austria wasted an excellent chance to restore their advantage with a three-on-two attack, but Bednarek threw himself in the way of Marcel Sabitzer’s effort.
Rangnick’s side almost found themselves behind in first-half added time when goalkeeper Patrick Pentz was forced into a diving stop by Piotr Zielinski’s free-kick.
Austria began the second half brightly, with Szczesny holding Stefan Posch’s header.
A huge roar went up around the stadium as Lewandowski made his entrance in the 60th minute.
His only involvement of note was to pick up a yellow card shortly after coming on for catching Philipp Lienhart in the face with his elbow.
Austria moved back ahead with a wonderfully-worked goal in the 66th minute.
Arnautovic dummied substitute Alexander Prass’ incisive pass and Baumgartner took a touch and coolly placed the ball into the bottom corner.
Austria could have wrapped up the three points with 15 minutes left when Patrick Wimmer’s low strike was pushed to safety by the increasingly busy Szczesny.
But the third goal arrived shortly afterwards as Arnautovic calmly put away a penalty after Sabitzer bore down on goal and was felled by Szczesny.
Austria threatened to make the final scoreline embarrassing for Poland, with Szczesny making a brilliant fingertip stop from Posch’s long-range drive.
The Poles were suddenly a shambles and Konrad Laimer dribbled a shot wide of an open goal after rounding Sczcesny, but even that miss could not take the gloss off Austria’s third win at a major tournament in 34 years.
Elsewhere, Roman Yaremchuk emerged from the bench to score the winning goal as Ukraine produced a stirring fightback to beat Slovakia 2-1 and kickstart their Euro 2024 campaign on Friday.
Slovakia knew victory in Duesseldorf would take them through to the knockout stage with a game to spare and they went ahead on 17 minutes thanks to Ivan Schranz, who netted the winner in the shock victory over Belgium in their opening game.
Ukraine came into this match reeling after losing 3-0 to Romania last time out but they dug deep here and equalised through Mykola Shaparenko nine minutes after half-time.
Shaparenko, of Dynamo Kyiv, then turned provider for Yaremchuk to score the decisive goal as Ukraine joined Slovakia and Romania on three points in a wide-open Group E.
Romania play Belgium, who are bottom without a point, on Saturday in Frankfurt before the final round of matches next Wednesday.
Like they had before their first game against the Romanians, the Ukraine players emerged onto the sodden pitch in rainy Duesseldorf with Ukrainian flags draped over their shoulders.
They are present at the tournament amid the ongoing war in their homeland and it was impossible to avoid the political narrative of this match in particular.
Slovakia shares a border with Ukraine but the country’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico -– who survived being shot in an assassination attempt last month -– is an opponent of military aid to the Ukrainians in its fight against the Russian invasion.
Last weekend Peter Pellegrini was sworn in as Slovakia’s new President after a campaign dominated by divisions over the war in Ukraine.
His predecessor, Zuzana Caputova, was a staunch Ukraine supporter, but Pellegrini is an ally of Fico and in favour of peace negotiations.
There was more support in the stands for Ukraine than their opponents at the Merkur Spiel-Arena, as their coach Serhiy Rebrov made four changes following the heavy loss to Romania in Munich.
Captain Taras Stepanenko and Girona winger Viktor Tsygankov were among the players to drop out, while Benfica’s Anatoliy Trubin started in goal in place of Andriy Lunin, whose errors proved costly in the opening match.
Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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