Key events
Those teams: There are seven changes across both teams, with Ronald Koeman bringing in full-back Lutsharel Geertruida, who I must confess I have never heard of before. Joey Veerman and Donyell Malen also come into the Dutch side. Max Wober, Romano Schmid, Alexander Prass and Patrick Wimmer all start for Austria.
Netherlands v Austria line-ups
Netherlands: Verbruggen, Geertruida, de Vrij, van Dijk, Ake, Schouten, Veerman, Malen, Reijnders, Gakpo, Depay.
Subs: De Ligt, Simons, Wijnaldum, Weghorst, Frimpong, Bijlow, van de Ven, Blind, Brobbey, Maatsen, Zirkzee, Dumfries, Flekken, Bergwijn, Gravenberch.
Austria: Pentz, Posch, Wober, Lienhart, Prass, Seiwald, Grillitsch, Wimmer, Schmid, Sabitzer, Arnautovic.
Subs: Lindner, Trauner, Danso, Gregoritsch, Hedl, Querfeld, Mwene, Kainz, Baumgartner, Laimer, Daniliuc, Seidl, Weimann, Entrup, Grull.
Today’s match officials
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Referee: Ivan Kruzliak
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Referee’s assistants: Branislav Hancko and Jan Pozor
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Fourth official: Irfan Peljto
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Video assistant referee: Marco Fritz
Group D permutations
The Netherlands and France are both guaranteed a place in the knockout stages already and Ronald Koeman’s side will finish in the top two if they avoid defeat today. They will win the group if they beat Austria and get a better result than France achieve against Poland, who cannot qualify for the last 16.
France will finish in the top two if they avoid defeat against Poland, and will top the group of they win and the Netherlands don’t beat Austria. If France and the Netherlands both win, the winner of the group will will be decided on goal difference and then goals scored, as their head-to-head is level.
Austria are guaranteed third place in Group D but can finish in the top two if they win today. Even if they lose against the Netherlands, they will still advance to the knockout stages unless the margin of defeat is four or more goals.
Group D: Netherlands v Austria
We’ll get to the nitty-gritty of the permutations shortly but suffice to say, for the time being, that the Netherlands are already guaranteed their place in the knockout stages of Euro 2024 and Austria will definitely join them unless they lose by four or more goals this evening.
Such a margin of defeat seems extremely unlikely for Ralf Rangnick’s side, who have impressed both in defeat at the hands of France and victory over Poland. They will fancy their cvhasnces of beating a Dutch side who have taken four points from their opening two games. Kick-off in the Leipzig Stadium is at 5pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.