While the Austria squad ran to celebrate in front their fan block to the sound of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" after a 3-2 win against the Netherlands at the Euro 2024, coach Ralf Rangnick preferred to stay on the sidelines.
"I just wanted to rest a bit," the coach said in a news conference after Tuesday's game. "There wasn't much I was thinking about."
In the days leading up to the final Group D match, however, Rangnick and his staff had a lot on their minds.
"Before, we were thinking about how we would go into the game. Had that Italy goal not happened, we would have a different line-up, because we wouldn't have qualified (to the last 16). But then we were 99% qualified," Rangnick said.
The coach was referring to the calculations to advance to the knock-out stages as one of the best third-placed teams. Thanks to Italy's last-gasp 1-1 draw with Croatia, the Austrians started the match against the Netherlands in a great position.
But the "secret favorites," as Austria have been dubbed ahead of the tournament, didn't settle for third and are so far one of the greatest stories of the tournament, topping a group with top favourite France and the Netherlands.
Shaky start before taking control
The path to the top of the group, however, had a shaky start. Austria opened the tournament with a 1-0 defeat to France, in which they scored an own goal.
Already the second group game against Poland then became an all-or-nothing match.
"We started the tournament with a loss, an own goal, and you if know the pressure we had against Poland, you know that finishing top of the group is incredible," Rangnick said. Austria went on to defeat Poland 3-1.
"The probability of us winning and France not winning (the group) would have made you a very rich man or woman. But that's the nice thing about football, we got rewarded by this brave performance," he added.
The Rangnick effect
Rangnick joined the Austria team in June 2022 following a short stint at Manchester United. Back then, he said that one of his goals was to bring back the fans by entertaining football and showing team spirit.
With the full support from the very loud Austrian fans, he led the team to back-to-back qualifications to the Euros last 16, equalling their most successful campaign ever at the Euro 2020.
"Two years ago the coach joined us and you can see a clear development," midfielder Marcel Sabitzer said.
"Before, we were very passive with the ball. Now we're very strong, and everyone knows that when we lose the ball we have to hunt it down. That's the main difference," he said.
Rangnick was recently on the verge of a move to Bundesliga record champions Bayern Munich. Club bosses were certain the transfer would go through, but Rangnick decided last-minute to stay at Austria, because "I trusted my gut, listened to my heart."
For now, it's safe to say he probably hasn't regretted his decision.
After the win against Poland, Christoph Baumgartner stressed the importance of Rangnick's decision to stay. After the Netherlands game, Sabitzer said: "I can only say that we're very, very happy with our entire coaching staff and that we're successful together."
Summer fairytale for Austria?
The 2006 World Cup in Germany became known as the "summer fairytale" due to the good weather, parties in the street and a feeling of national pride.
Asked if the Euro 2024 could be Austria's summer fairytale, Sabitzer said: "It's a bit too early to talk about that, but who knows us Austrians knows that we work very hard."
Coach Rangnick also prefers to keep his feet on the ground.
"I've already said months ago, I don't think it's very likely that we can win the Euros. We're not really thinking about that. The guys want to go as far as possible, but we have to take it step by step," he said.
In the last 16, Austria will face the Group F runners-up, either Turkey, the Czech Republic or Georgia in a week's time in Leizpig, where Rangnick worked as RB Leipzig coach from 2015 to 2016 and then from 2018 to 2019.
