Bachmann errors help Farke’s side to 2-1 winCardiff beat Portsmouth to climb out of bottom three Leeds moved up to second in the Championship as two goalkeeping blunders by Watford’s Daniel Bachmann helped them to a 2-1 win at Elland Road. The Austria keeper was at fault for both Leeds’ goals as they raced into a 2-0 lead inside the opening seven minutes through Largie Ramazani and Brenden Aaronson. Kwadwo Baah pulled one back for Watford, who were much improved in the second half, but Leeds held on for back-to-back home wins in the space of five days. Daniel Farke’s side extended their unbeaten league run to six matches and have now lost one of their first 11, while Watford slipped to a fifth straight league defeat on the road. Continue reading...

A 6-1 humiliation in March is still on their minds with a place in the quarter-finals at stake in clash of dark horses The footage is enough to inflict sleepless nights upon anyone following Turkey. They were pulverised by Austria three months ago in Vienna and the knives were immediately out for Vincenzo Montella. It was always going to be that way after losing 6-1 and the question took no time in coming: would he quit? “I want to ask you this, do you resign when asking a wrong question?” he responded. “It is an unnecessary provocation.” That was a no, then. Montella remains firmly in situ and has a new opportunity to find the right answers in Leipzig on Tuesday night. The stakes are infinitely higher, a quarter-final spot the prize, and the lessons are there to be acted upon. For starters exhibit one showed what not to do against Ralf Rangnick’s team, Salih Ozcan dwelling on the ball inside 100 seconds and a hurtling Romano Schmid pressing him into oblivion to create the opening goal. Continue reading...

Togetherness and confidence inspired by Red Bull empire is having a lasting effect on surprise contenders Just outside the centre circle of Austria’s training pitch, Ralf Rangnick stood deep in discussion with his assistant Lars Kornetka. Nothing could interrupt such focused conversation, but for an interested observer it was hard for attention not to drift. No more than 200 metres beyond the far side, the multicoloured flags that fly atop Berlin’s Olympiastadion’s stands fluttered over a row of trees. At the right-hand corner stood the columns that guard its west entrance, and the perfunctory row of terracing, as Rangnick’s squad emerged to go through their paces. Austria may have a last-16 tie on Tuesday with Turkey to grapple with, but they can see the Euro 2024 finishing line every day. They are based at the amateur stadium, used by Hertha Berlin’s under-23 team, that adjoins the arena where dreams will come true in just under a fortnight. It is a languid Sunday morning in the surrounding complex, the bustle of match day replaced by a vintage car exhibition, along with a mixture of joggers, curious tourists and perambulating families, but Austria have their eyes on glory. Continue reading...

Ralf Rangnick struggled during his interim stint at Manchester United but he has restored his reputation at Austria and led them to the Euro 2024 knockouts.

Marcel Sabitzer scores a "sensational" goal to give Austria a 3-2 lead over Netherlands in their Group D match in Berlin.

Three games open at 2pm BST with Georgia v Czech RepPlayer interactive | And you can drop Xaymaca a mail It seemed apt that after his Austria side ignited their hopes of reaching the last 16, Ralf Rangnick – famed for imposing a high-pressing style across the Red Bull group – plumped for an energy drink, pouring himself a glass in his post-match press conference. A well-earned victory provides hope of qualifying from Group D when they meet the Netherlands here on Tuesday. In the other big game of the day, Austria beat Poland 3-1. Continue reading...

Euro 2024 news from the 8pm BST kick-off in DüsseldorfLatest Euro 2024 Daily | Player interactive | Email Michael Just 15 minutes to go between Belgium and Slovakia, and it is the latter who are leading 1-0! Join Rob Smyth here for that game’s closing stages. What a game this is, perhaps the most exciting on paper of the tournament so far. France, who have played in all but one major tournament final since 2016, against a resurgent and intriguing Austria side, led by their Ralf Rangnick, their maverick manager who turned down Bayern Munich’s advances to stay in charge of Das Team for this tournament. Continue reading...

It says attempts to enter without tickets were not successfulMet police made 56 arrests, including five for pitch invasion The Football Association has insisted that the massive security operation for Saturday night’s Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund was a success, particularly in terms of keeping out ticketless fans who tried to storm the Wembley gates. The biggest game in European club football was marred at the outset by three men invading the pitch. The first got close enough to the Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior to take a selfie and the last was eventually bundled away by stewards with the Dortmund midfielder Marcel Sabitzer lending a hand. The three men were arrested together with two more who tried and failed to get on to the pitch. They are all set to be charged with criminal offences. Continue reading...

Kompany has signed a three-year deal after leaving BurnleyCompensation package of about £10m agreed with former club Bayern Munich have appointed Vincent Kompany as their new head coach after agreeing a compensation package of about £10m with Burnley. Kompany has signed a three-year contract with Bayern, who made a surprise move for him having failed to persuade Thomas Tuchel to remain at the end of the season. Xabi Alonso, their former coach Julian Nagelsmann and Austria’s coach Ralf Rangnick had turned down the post. Continue reading...

Late Champions League semi-final comeback was merely the latest escape act for the Spanish giants led by Carlo Ancelotti At some moment somewhere amid the mayhem, that symbol of the ridiculousness of Real Madrid returned. The players who had just made another European Cup final had sprinted from one goal to the other, throwing themselves to the floor in front of their fans; Carlo Ancelotti had belted out the club’s anthem with its line about history made and history to be made, the coolest cat looking as if he was about to cry this time; and now they were doing a lap of honour. As they did so, Toni Rüdiger briefly ducked out. When he came back, he was carrying a white plastic chair, stolen from a steward. They were in front of the north stand at the Santiago Bernabéu, and Rüdiger handed it to David Alaba. One of three Madrid players to sustain a knee injury this season, Alaba has not played much and looked slightly embarrassed to be pushed centre stage but, Rüdiger insisted, this was about everyone and “the chair had to come back”. Alaba had raised it above his head like a trophy after Madrid’s comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in March 2022. He said he didn’t really know why but it had worked somehow – “don’t you sit in our chair,” he had tweeted soon after, this throne theirs alone – and when he lifted it now everyone got it. They had only gone and done it again. Continue reading...

Defender’s dramatic equaliser denies Dortmund victoryStuttgart’s 11-match unbeaten run ends at Werder Bremen Bayer Leverkusen’s Josip Stanisic scored a 97th-minute goal for the German champions to rescue a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund and prevent Xabi Alonso’s side from suffering their first loss of the season. Niclas Füllkrug gave Dortmund the lead in the 81st minute with a volley inside the left post, after Marcel Sabitzer teed him up with a lovely cushioned pass before the ball went in off the goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky’s gloves. Continue reading...

Hull City's Championship play-off hopes were dented as Daniel Bachmann saved a penalty to earn Watford a point against the Tigers.

Just another raw and savage night of Champions League football at the Westfalen: the colours vivid, the sounds ear-shattering, the defences in utter disarray. Late goals from Niclas Fullkrug and Marcel Sabitzer secured Borussia Dortmund’s passage to the semi-finals, breaking open an Atlético Madrid who look a grey scale model of the battleships Diego Simeone once produced. It was flawed and it was chaotic, and even amid Dortmund’s elation there remains the eternal question of whether they are ever going to allow us to take them seriously, whether they will ever escape this riotously entertaining cycle of boom and bust. This tie felt like a whole psychodrama in its own right, and one Atlético could quite conceivably have finished within the first half-hour in Madrid. Continue reading...

Substitute Vardy scores both against Watford in 2-0 victory Birmingham sink Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 for Rooney’s first win Jamie Vardy came off the bench for Leicester to earn the leaders their first victory in three matches, scoring both goals in a 2-0 home win against Watford. It had looked like being a half of frustration for the former Premier League Golden Boot winner, after he somehow missed an open goal from four yards out in the 74th minute. But he was in the right spot two minutes later to score from close range after Jannik Vestergaard’s header had been parried by Daniel Bachmann in Watford’s goal. Continue reading...