March 29, 2024

Nations League: Arnautovic's score is just a side note

Nations League: Arnautovic’s score is just a side note

The 33-year-old stressed that in order to achieve success against the Croats, a significant improvement over Thursday’s 0:2 at Stade de France is necessary. “It was not very good against France, but we hope to show our ability to play Croatia,” Arnautovic said. The Viennese team encouraged Austria’s appearance in a 3-0 win over the Croatians in Osijek in June. “We played great, we want to continue with this performance. We know that Croatia has a very strong team, but we are ready,” Arnautovic said.

Real Madrid star Luka Modric stands out among the strong Croatian fans. “There is not much to be said about him, he has shown enough in his career. For me he is one of the best players in the world in this position. He continues to show his ability to play at the highest levels,” Arnautovic said of the 37-year-old midfielder. But we shouldn’t look at individual players, we should focus on ourselves.”

Interview with Marko Arnautovic

With his 104th international appearance – in the Nations League match against Croatia on Sunday in Vienna – Marko Arnautovic surpassed the previous record of Andreas Herzog. ÖFB’s new record player spoke to ORF reporter Andreas Felber about the match against Croatia and its anniversary.

“I’m excited about every match”

The striker said Arnautovic is of Serbian origin, and many of his Croatian friends will be on the field. However, he does not feel particularly motivated by this. “I am excited in every match, whether it is against Croatia, France or any other team,” the Italy international confirmed.

See also  In honor of Bayern Munich: The Empire State Building is lit up in red

And it only costs the ÖFB internationals to shrug the shoulders of the many Croatia fans who will be sitting on the field. “It doesn’t matter if more Croats come than Austrians. We have to focus on our game,” Arnautovic said.

Croatia is the most likely candidate for Sosic

Croatian player Luka Sucic of Red Bull Salzburg can watch the match only from a distance. The 20-year-old from Linz would be an A-choice candidate, but was nominated for the U21 European Championship playoff. However, he is looking with great interest at the confrontation in Prater, where a relatively balanced game can be expected according to Susic. But he believes “Croatia is the favorite in this match,” the APA midfielder said.

Geba / Matthias Mandel

Salzburg’s Sucic will be a candidate for the Croatian national team, but he has been called up to take part in the play-off of the European Under-21 Championship.

“You can see in the first match that it will not be easy for us because Austria has a good team. In addition, the new coach (Ralph Rangnick, editor) provided a good additional momentum.” Suchic emphasized that the Austrians’ success against Croatia in Rangnick’s debut was not only due to Germany taking over the job. “One factor was certain that Luka Modric and two other key players were not around.” But this should not be an excuse. “Austria did really well in the first leg, while not everything went as we imagined.”

The Croats will be first in the group by defeating ÖFB and thus in the fourth final for the Nations League title. In addition, the guest appearance at the Abel Stadium is useful in checking its shape ahead of the World Cup, which begins in November, when Belgium, Morocco and Canada will face each other in the group stage. In the desert, a surprise similar to the one in 2018, when Croatia qualified for the final should be thrilling. “First of all we want to do well in the group stage and get through it. Then we’ll see. But we definitely have a high level of quality in the team, so if we can run, a lot is possible,” said Susic.