Luka Modric gave the Croatians the lead (6th), Christoph Baumgartner equalized almost immediately (9th). After that, the locals had top opportunities to take the lead, but the guests scored the goals. “Joker” Marko Livaja (69th) and Dejan Lovren (72nd) ensured the sixth Croatian victory over Austria in the seventh duel and the third ÖFB bankruptcy in a row.
Team manager Ralf Rangnick used a back three this time and made five changes to the starting line-up compared to the 2-0 loss in France on Thursday. Heinz Lindner, Kevin Danso, Stefan Posch, Baumgartner and Michael Gregoritsch replaced Patrick Pentz, Philipp Lienhart, Maximilian Wöber, Andreas Weimann and Karim Onisiwo. The recently slightly injured David Alaba and Marko Arnautovic also started. The latter had to watch an early deficit in his 104th international match, with which he became the sole ÖFB record holder.
Nikola Vlasic freed Modric, who took the ball optimally and overcame Lindner with a shot into the near corner (6th). The Real Madrid star had already scored in the Prater, namely in Croatia’s 1-0 win over Austria at EURO 2008. Just three minutes later, the Austrians had the right answer ready – Baumgartner headed in a cross from Marcel Sabitzer corner The video assistant checked a possible offside position by Gregoritsch in the creation of the goal, but the 1:1 counted.
After that, the Croatians led the somewhat finer blade, but the far more dangerous team were the home side. Arnautovic checked the Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic (22nd), a few seconds later a Baumgartner shot was only centimeters missing following a successful combination via Arnautovic and Gregoritsch. In the 44th minute, Arnautovic had the 2:1 on his foot, but failed free-standing to Livakovic. Shots from Vlasic and Perisic did not pose a problem for Lindner just before the break.
The second half started without any major highlights, following an hour Rangnick made a triple substitution, in the course of which Arnautovic made way for debutant Muhammed Cham and was switched to a back four. At least the latter measure should not pay off.
After a cross from Ivan Perisic, Livaja defeated Lindner with a header via the inside bar (69′). Three minutes later, when Lovro Majer crossed, the ÖFB back team forgot Lovren, who headed in unchallenged. This broke the resistance of the Austrians and the Croatians might have won even more. A shot by Perisic, for example, grazed the bar.
The ÖFB selection continues on November 16 with a friendly in Spain once morest Andorra and four days later with another friendly once morest Italy in the Happel Stadium. Qualifying for EURO 2024 will start next March, and the group draw will take place in Frankfurt on October 9th. In a win over Croatia, Austria would have been third and seeded in pot one, now they are drawn from pot two.
