Ralf Rangnick's trust in Austrian firepower clear as Ireland roll into Linz

Former Manchester United boss Rangnick not only pointed to his team’s nine goals in their four matches as evidence for confidence but the fact they came from nine different goalscorers.

Austria manager Ralf Rangnick. Pic: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Ralf Rangnick believes Austria’s firepower can maintain their perfect Linz record when they host Ireland in Saturday’s penultimate Uefa Nations League fixture.

The former Manchester United boss not only pointed to his team’s nine goals in their four matches as evidence for confidence but the fact they came from nine different goalscorers.

Austria have won six and drawn the other of their seven games at the Raiffeisen Arena since the stadium was rebuilt in 2023.

Another victory this weekend would secure top spot in the group and promotion to League A with Tuesday’s final game against bottom side Israel to spare.

“Our average goals scored per game is 2.25,” asserted the Austrian, who led his team to last summer’s World Cup.

“The next aim is to keep a clean sheet. We are quite good at protecting our goal, especially at home where our record is very strong.

“Ireland are good individually and collectively but we are prepared to make headway.” 

Unlike Ireland, Rangnick has a raft of injury problems.

The group of seven absentees, Maximilian Wöber, Nikolas Veratschnig, Paul Wanner, Patrick Wimmer, Florian Grillitsch, Carney Chukwuemeka and Marco Grüll have been joined by Xaver Schlager and Alexander Prass.

“The two latest injuries are a mystery,” said the manager, dismissing criticism from club managers that the Nations League is overloading players.

“They trained and played recently but have picked up muscle injuries.

“Six of those missing are core players. Yet we have trained intensely for four days and other players will step up. I’m sure of that.” 

Christoph Baumgartner does return, however, having missed the last window that includes a 2-2 draw against Ireland in Dublin. 

While the manager suggested his return to play restricts his gametime to 65 minutes, the RB Leipzig could start in support of the lone striker.

That slot could go to Christoph Lang, the hometown hero from Champions League group stage participants LASK.

He’s pushing for inclusion after grabbing the equaliser in Kosovo last time out which consolidates their position at the summit of the League B3 table.

“I love playing for the national team at home, whether that’s Vienna or here in Linz, captain Konrad Laimer of Bayern Munich said.

“That spurs us on, gains us momentum and brings out an additional one or two percent in our performance, be it being quicker or scoring goals. There is additional value.

“It is up to us to exert some pressure on Ireland early and create chances.

"We know that Ireland are a good team but, if we play well, we can win the game.” 

David Alaba inflicted heartache on Ireland when scoring a late equaliser all of 13 years ago but the veteran and former club isn’t part of the squad.

He’s now a teammate of Ireland’s James Abankwah at Udinese but hasn’t featured enough in Italy to earn a recall.

“I am communicating with David and exchanging information but not in the last two weeks,” explained. Rangnick “Hopefully he plays for Udinese after this international break.”