Our prediction for this Euro 2024 match:
Olympiastadion will be packed when Poland and Austria lock horns in Group D in round 2 of the European Championship finals. Poland aim to recover from a 2-1 loss to Netherlands and the good news for the nominal hosts is that key attacker Robert Lewandowski has overcome his minor injury. Both Matty Cash and Arkadiusz Milik have been ruled out, while defender Bartosz Salamon is a major doubt after limping off with injury in the first group game.
The Austrians, on the other hand, aim to bounce back from a 1-0 loss to France. As Ralf Rangnick’s troops will go for a victory as well, we believe that punters from all around the globe can find value in betting on over 2.5 goals. It has to be noted that all Wober, Mwene, Baumgartner, Laimer, and Danso got booked in the defeat to Kylian Mbappe and Co.
Highlighted Player (Robert Lewandowski):
After scoring 36 goals in 59 league games for Znicz Pruskow, Robert Lewandowski joined Lech Poznan in June, 2008. The 184-cm-tall attacker scored 18 goals in 28 appearances for the club in the 2009/2010 Ekstraklasa campaign and during the season he was on Borussia Dortmund’s radar.
The Polish forward signed a four-year deal with the Bundesliga side in June, 2010 and he quickly established himself as the team’s key attacker. Lewandowski was producing excellent performances with the Millionaires between 2010 and 2014 and it has to be noted that he won two Bundesliga trophies with the club (2010/2011, 2011/2012). He participated in the 2012/2013 Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund, but the Millionaires were beaten by fellow Bundesliga side Bayern Munich in the title game.
However, he betrayed Borussia Dortmund fans in 2014 as he signed a four-year deal with the Bundesliga giants. Lewandowski impressed in the 2016/2017 Bundesliga campaign as he scored 30 goals in 32 league games for Pep Guardiola’s troops. The Polish footballer represented his homeland at Euro 2016 in France and he scored one goal at the showpiece tournament in France.
Highlighted Team (Austria):
Austria is one of Europe’s oldest national football teams and they enjoyed plenty of success during the 1930’s, earning the nickname Wunderteam in the process. Das Team achieved a fourth-place finish at the second World Cup in 1934, before finishing in third place at the 1954 finals. However, Austria have since participated at another five World Cup finals, never getting past the first knockout stage.
Das Team were even more disappointing in the European Championship qualifying campaigns, failing to qualify for 12 straight tournaments before appearing at the 2008 finals as co-hosts. However, Austria made it to the Euro 2016 in style, winning nine of ten qualifiers to suggest the team may be on the path to return to old glory days.
Former Bayern Munich midfielder Andreas Herzog is the team’s most capped footballer with 103 appearances, whereas Toni Polster is the most prolific striker with 44 goals in 95 outings. Matthias Sinderlar, Ernst Ocwirk, Herbert Prohaska and Hans Krankl are some of the most notable players to have represented Austria over the years.