How Ralf Rangnick’s substitutions earned him an Austria Euro 2024 win over Poland

Live-stream reaction to Austria’s stunning 3-1 victory against Poland at the European Championship today

By The Athletic

Jun 22, 2024 04:02 AM

When you’re not one of the biggest footballing nations, the elite talent at your disposal is limited to a handful of player at most. So, when you arrive at a major tournament and your star man and all-time record goal scorer, 35-year-old Lewandowski, is nursing a thigh injury, the outlook can look bleak.

Poland required other countries to step up to give them the most cutting-edge attack that Lewandwoski has provided them for so many years.

The expectation would be that it would be the case that Barcelona forward would be able to only be absent from Poland’s first game of Euro 2024 (against Netherlands on June 16) however, the forward was not yet ready to play in this game against Austria.

In the opening game, Adam Buksa led the line and scored to give Poland the advantage. The lead was not enough (Netherlands defeated 2-1) However, they looked like they could have earned an advantage until Wout Weghorst’s last-minute goal.

In the match against Austria and with Buksa less effective and less influential, it was Krzysztof Piatek who scored, the 28-year-old scoring the goal from close-range following the ball landed in front of him inside the box.

Lewandowski had to sit and watch from his bench during the opening half, providing his opinions to the coaches to influence the proceedings prior to his entry after 60 minutes. The game was on the line but he failed to bring the spark required in the end as Poland lost their second consecutive defeat of 2-1 which puts them at risk of being eliminated.