Austria midfielder Marcel Sabitzer had a heartbreaking season with Borussia Dortmund, which ended in a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final on June 1.
But the player bounced back at Euro 2024 and was one of the stars in the group stage as Austria surprised the football world by winning the difficult Group D with top favourite France and the Netherlands.
"I've had ups and downs in the last few months so this moment is really good, I'm very, very happy today," Sabitzer said in a news conference after scoring Austria's winner in the 3-2 victory against the Netherlands on Tuesday.
"But I'm not going to focus on myself. I'm proud of the team because they put all of the trust on me and I can play more freely. I'm always happy when I can help them with my performance," he said.
Sabitzer scored from a very tight angle and said in that moment he thought it was a good time to "give it a try."
"I got the ball deep, I looked up if someone was free, but I had the impression they had more men there, and in the past the left foot has always helped me. And I thought that it was the moment to give it a try.
"I haven't seen the goal yet, but I think it was very nice and a very important one," he said.
Austria lost to France 1-0 in their Euro 2024 opener, but bounced back with a 3-1 win against Poland before the triumph against the Dutch.
In the last 16, they will face the Group F runners-up, either Turkey, the Czech Republic or Georgia in a week's time.
