Key events
29 min: “Can’t imagine I’ll be the only Wales fan watching Poland and thinking ‘this could be us’,” writes Jonny Bull. “And that includes getting the absolute runaround here, especially on our current form.”
28 min: Piotr Zielinski tries another shot from outside the Austria penalty area but it cannons off the head of a defender.
26 min: Poland are being completely overrun in midfield and keep giving the ball away any time they do get possession. On their bench, Robert Lewandowski is deep in conversation with his manager and other members of the team’s coaching staff.
23 min: Austria continue their onslaught, with Mark Arnautovic bringing a smart save out of Szczesny after pouncing on a Baumgartner ball in behind the Polish defence. Offside.
19 min: Wojciech Szczesny dashes out of his penalty area to hack clear, just about preventing Christoph Baumgartner from getting to a terrific Florian Grillitsch pass floated down the middle.
20 min: Jakub Piotrowski sends an excellent ball across the face of the Austria goal but there’s nobody in a white shirt present to divert home. Nicola Zalewski collects the ball, cuts in from the right nad shooits well wide.
17 min: Piotr Zielinski takes Polandd’s first shot in anger but it’s blocked by Philipp Mwene in the penalty area. The ball hits his hand and Ziekinski gives it the full Freddie Flintoff with his appeal for a spot-kick but Mwene’s arm was tucked in by his chest when he handled the ball.
15 min: Austria are showing no inclination to do “an England” and are going all-out for a second goal rather than sitting back and inviting Poland on to them. They’re getting forward in numbers and only keeping two defenders back when they have the ball.
13 min: It was an excellent goal from Austria – a precision cross from the left and a terrific header that went in at the top left-hand corner of Szczesny’s goal. Trauner had to contort his body and lean backwards to steer it on target, but did so with aplomb.
10 min: Poland have been completely overwhelmed in the opening 10 minutes and are undone by a long throw. The ball is flung towards the Austrian centre-half Trauner, who fails to win it but remains in position to lean backwards and nod home from eight yards when the return cross comes in from Philipp Muene on the left touchline.
GOAL! Poland 0-1 Austria (Trauner 9)
Austria lead! It’s been coming and Gernot Trauner heads Austria into the lead.
8 min: Posch plays the ball long up the right flank to Arnautovic, who chests it down with his back to goal. He holds the ball up and wins a free-kick off Gernot Trauner.
6 min: Austria have started at a heck of lick, like greyhounds sprinting out of the traps. Poland are struggling to cope with their early intensity.
5 min: Arnautovic and Sabitzer combine again and the latter crosses towards the former from the left. His delivery beats the defender but Arnautovic wasn’t expecting it to and is unable to capitalise.
3 min: Sabitzer plays the ball out wide towards Marko Arnautivic on the right flank but his pass is wayward. The ball skids out for a throew-in.
2 min: Austrian full-back Stefan Posch tests Wojciech Szczesny with an early long-range effort. The Polish goalkeeper is equal to the task.
1 min: Austria get forward and Marcel Sabitzer tries to pull the ball back into the Poland penalty area from the byline. He fails to pick out a teammate.
Poland v Austria is go …
1 min: The game kicks off with a thick cloud of smoke hanging over proceedings, presumably the result of some Uefa-approved or unsanctioned pre-match pyrotechnics. Austria get the ball rolling, their players wearing red shirts. Poland’s are in white.
Not long now: Referee Umut Meler and his team of match officials lead out the teams as I try to get my head around Sean McNulty’s email about Scotland’ potentially getting through to the knockout stages with two points. That would be a magnificent achievement. I wonder if anyone’s told Steve Clarke …
An email: If Poland v Austria ends in a draw, Scotland can qualify from their group with a mere two points,” writes Sean McNulty. “If the following also happens: Spain beat Albania in their final group game, and Italy beat Croatia. France beat Poland in their final group game, and the Netherlands beat Austria. And Scotland draw their final game against Hungary. If all the above comes to pass, I wouldn’t rule out the sudden arrival of a Germany-obliterating asteroid.”
Seven changes across both teams
Robert Lewandowski is only fit for the Poland bench but Pawel Dawidowicz is back in the team after recovering from injury. The Hellas Verona defender became the subject of much derision for a preposterously theatrical dive he made to win a penalty against Turkey in Poland’s final warm-up game ahead of this competition.
Other Poland changes: Bartosz Slisz and Jakub Pitrowski also come into the midfield, and in terrible news for those of us tasked with typing minute-by-minute reports of Poland games, Krzysztof Piatek is up front alongside Adam Buksa. Sebastian Szymanski, Bartosz Salamon and Kacper Urbanski drop to the bench.
Marko Arnautovic is back in Austria’s starting line-up after playing the final half-hour against France, while Gernot Traumner and Philipp Lienhart also start. Kevin Danso, Max Wober and Michael Gregoritsch make way.
Today’s match officials
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Referee: Halil Umut Meler
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Referee’s assistants: Alper Ulusoy and Emre Eyisoy
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Fourth official: Rade Obrenovic
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Video assiistant referee: Paolo Valeri
How things stand in Group D: If either of these teams are beaten and the Netherlands and France draw tonight, the loser here cannot qualify for the knockout stages.
If Poland lose and France beat the Dutch, then Lewandowski and chums are out. If Austria lose and the Netherlands win, then Ralf Rangnick’s side are eliminated with a game still to play.
Poland: Robert Lewandowski is ready to hand Poland a major boost by returning to action against Austria, with Wojciech Szczesny adamant their record goalscorer’s mere presence on the pitch will strike fear into their opponents. Ben Fisher reports from Berlin …
Robert Lewandowski: In a team line-up boasting more Zs than a good night’s sleep, the name of Poland’s star striker is conspicuous by its absence. Despite pre-match reports to the contrary from the team HQ, Robert Lewandowski is only fit enough for the bench. Adam Buksa and Kryzsztof Piatek start up front in Michal Probierz’s side.
Poland v Austria line-ups
Poland: Szczesny, Bednarek, Dawidowicz, Kiwior, Frankowski, Zielinski, Slisz, Piotrowski, Zalewski, Buksa, Piatek.
Subs: Salamon, Walukiewicz, Swiderski, Moder, Lewandowski, Grosicki, Skorupski, Romanchuk, Puchacz, Damian Szymanski, Bereszynski, Sebastian Szymanski, Bulka, Skoras, Urbanski.
Austria: Pentz, Posch, Trauner, Lienhart, Mwene, Seiwald, Grillitsch, Laimer, Baumgartner, Sabitzer, Arnautovic.
Subs: Lindner, Wober, Danso, Prass, Gregoritsch, Hedl, Querfeld, Kainz, Schmid, Daniliuc, Seidl, Wimmer, Weimann, Entrup, Grull.
Slovakia 1-2 Ukraine
Group E: Mykola Shaparenko and Roman Yarmachuk got the goals as Ukraine came from behind to beat Slovakia with two second-half strikes.
Early team news
Poland are ready to welcome back Robert Lewandowski after their talismanic striker was forced to sit out their opener against the Netherlands with a thigh injury he picked up in their final warm-up game before the tournament. Karol Swiderski could start alongside Lewandowski, having come off the bench in the second half of Poland’s game against the Netherlands.
Marko Arnautovic could start up front for Austria, having come as a sub for Michael Gregoritsch an hour into Austria’s defeat at the hands of France. Ralf Rangnick played Marcel Sabitzer in an unfamiliar position on the left side of midfield in that game and the Borussia Dortmund player may be handed that role again. Should he move inside to a more central position, Patrick Wimmer could play on the wing.
Group D: Poland v Austria
After losing their opening games, Poland and Austria meet at the Berlin’s Olympiastadion knowing that another defeat would almost certainly end of any chance they have of progressing to the knockout stages of this competition.
Poland began their campaign by losing by the odd goal in three against the Netherlands, while Austria were hugely impressive in their defeat at the hands of Euro 2024 favourites France. Although both teams lost, their head coaches, Michal Probierz and Ralf Rangnick, will have seen enough from their teams to feel confident of coming out on top of this crucial encounter.
Kick-off in Berlin is at 5pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
