Austria vs France: Preview, Prediction & Betting Tips

Austria enters this Euro 2024 opener against France after a strong qualifying run, winning six of their last seven games. However, their momentum might stall against a formidable French side, currently second favorites to win the tournament. Despite Austria's recent success, their last encounter with France in the Nations League ended in a 2-0 defeat, highlighting the significant gap in quality between the two teams.

France boasts a star-studded attack, led by the prolific Kylian Mbappe, who racked up an impressive 34 goal contributions in Ligue 1 and 16 in the qualifiers. Olivier Giroud's experience and goal-scoring instincts, evident in his 23 goal contributions in Serie A and four in the qualifiers, add further depth to France's offensive arsenal. Austria's defense, anchored by Konrad Laimer and Stefan Posch, face a daunting task in containing Mbappe and Giroud.

Given France's attacking prowess and Austria's susceptibility in defense, we predict a 2-0 victory for France.

This Monday sees Austria and France begin their Euros journey against each other. Group D is a tough one with Poland and the Netherlands also battling for a spot in the knockout rounds making a strong start of utmost importance.

• Date: 17/06/2024
• Kick-off time: 20:00
• Location: Merkur Spiel Arena

Both Austria and France look to continue their impressive form from qualifying as they look to set themselves up right for a long run into the competition.

This will be the fourth appearance from Austria at the European Championships. They first qualified as hosts in 2008 where they were eliminated at the Group stage with one draw and two losses in three games. It was another Group stage elimination in 2016 and for the first time in 2021, Poland made it to the knockout rounds, where they were eliminated at the Round of 16.

In qualifying Austria were drawn into Group F with Belgium, Sweden, Azerbaijan and Estonia. In eight games, Austria picked up six wins, one draw and one loss, leaving them on 19 points, one point from Belgium.

This will be the 11th appearance from France at the European Championships. France have lifted the trophy twice already, winning at home in 1984 and in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2000. Les Bleus have also made a Final at home in 2016 and two Semifinals.

In qualifying France faced off against the Netherlands, Greece, Ireland and Gibraltar in Group B. In eight games, France picked up seven wins and one draw, leaving them on 22 points and top of the group.

Austria and France have met 25 times in their histories, with the first meeting coming in an international friendly in 1925. France have the better record in the fixture with 13 wins in comparison to Austria’s nine wins, the other three games ending in a draw.

The last five games in this fixture have seen three wins for France, one win for Austria and one draw. This fixture does usually see both sides on the scoresheet with three of the last five games having both sides scoring, but the most recent game did see only France score.

Austria Team News

Ralf Rangnick will be without his usual captain David Alaba due to his ACL injury during the season but he still has the likes of Marcel Sabitzer, Andreas Weimann, Mark Arnautovic and Michael Gregortisch.

France Team News

Didier Deschamps is also missing a player with an ACL injury, that being PSG’s Lucas Hernandez. However, his roster is still stacked with Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Kingsley Coman, N’Golo Kante and Eduardo Camavinga.

In their last five games in all competitions, Austria have four wins and one draw.

The trip to Estonia saw Austria restrict the hosts to zero shots on target. Both Konrad Laimer and Philipp Lienhart scored in the first half to give Austria the 2 - 0 win.

It was another 2 - 0 win for Austria, this time in an international friendly against Slovakia. Baumgartner opened the scoring in the first minute and Weimann added the second in the 82nd minute.

Austria were amongst the early goals again against Turkey with Xaver Schlager in the second minute. A penalty from Hakan Calhanoglu did bring Turkey level but a hat-trick from Gregoritsch, a penalty from Baumgartner and a goal from Maximilian Entrup gave Austria the 6 - 1 win.

Patrik Wimmer and Baumgartner both scored for Austria before the 15 minute mark, though Strahinja Pavlovic did get Serbia on the scoresheet before halftime. However, this was Serbia’s one shot on target as Austria held on for the 2 - 1 win.

The last time out for Austria was against Switzerland. Baumgartner was on the scoresheet yet again for Austria to give them the lead in the fifth minute but Silvan Widmer equalised for Switzerland to force a 1 - 1 draw.

In their last five games in all competitions, France have two wins, two draws and one loss.

The last game of the qualifiers saw France in Greece. Randal Kolo Muani put France ahead just before halftime but Anastasios Bakasetas and Fotis Iannidis gave Greece the lead on the hour mark. However, late on Youssouf Fofana found the back of the net to grab a 2 - 2 draw for France.

In an international friendly, France took on Germany. Florian Wirtz opened the scoring in the first minute and Kai Havertz added another just after halftime to give Germany the 2 - 0 win with France having just two shots on target.

France bounced back in another international friendly, this time against Chile. Marcelino Nunez gave Chile the lead in the sixth minute but Fofana and Muani put France ahead going into halftime. Giroud added another with 15 minutes to go and even though Dario Osorio did score late on, France picked up a 3 - 2 win.

Muani was on the scoresheet again for France to give them the lead over Luxembourg at halftime. Jonathan Clauss and Mbappe added to the scoreline in the 3 - 0 win for France.

The most recent outing for France was against Canada. France had four shots on target and was unable to convert any of them and Canada had zero shots on target as the game finished 0 - 0.

Austria vs France will be shown on ITV 1 and ITV X in the U.K. and can also be followed online on BBC Sport or Sky Sports.

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