Vienna was plunged into darkness prior to Austria’s 2-1 defeat to Denmark due to a power cut and Ralf Rangnick’s side were left feeling gloomy afterwards too as they conceded a late winner. They’re still handily placed in their group having opened with a 3-0 win over Croatia, so the lights haven’t gone out on their campaign just yet as Austria prepare for a first meeting with France since 2009, where they’ll hope to build on a decent H2H record so far (W9, D2, L12).
One thing that’s held Austria back are slow starts as in four of their last five home matches they were 1-0 down at half-time, and that’s despite not conceding before the 20th minute in any of their last seven home internationals (W2, D2, L3). Addressing that could halt the inconsistency that’s seen them fail to repeat a result in two consecutive home UNL games (W2, D2, L2).
Reigning champions France are still to get off the mark in their UNL campaign (D1, L1) after conceding after the 80th minute against Denmark (L 2-1) and then Croatia (D 1-1). Manager Didier Deschamps made several changes for the Croatia match and may do so again here as he seeks to return Les Bleus to winning ways.
Late goals have been a feature recently with each of France’s last four games on foreign soil witnessing scoring after the 75th minute, although they’ve usually been the beneficiaries having lost just one of their last 17 internationals away from France since June 2019 (W12, D4). They’ve often needed a late surge though as they haven’t led at half-time in any of the last eight of those fixtures (HT: D4, L4).
Players to watch: Midfielder Xaver Schlager has been busy for Austria, picking up a booking against Croatia and then scoring against Denmark. Meanwhile, France’s Karim Benzema has netted six times between the 50th and 70th minute across his last five international appearances.
Hot stat: Austria’s last seven internationals each produced more goals after half-time than before, as did seven of France’s previous eight!
PREDICTION: FRANCE TO WIN OR DRAW
