Nations League | League B

Oct 13, 2024 at 7.45pm UK

Raiffeisen Arena

Austria vs Norway

Match preview

After only managing to take one point from two away games in September – including a 2-1 loss to Norway – Austria were feeling the heat to deliver when Group 3 underdogs Kazakhstan came to town on Thursday.

Christoph Baumgartner gave the Austrians the lead early on, but they didn't secure the win until Philipp Lienhart and Marcel Sabitzer scored in the last three minutes of the second half. Matthias Seidl made it 4-0.

Ralf Rangnick's team are now on par with Slovenia, and both are aiming to join Norway in the race for automatic promotion. The group winners will move straight up to League A, while second place gets a playoff spot.

After being relegated last time, Austria made an impressive impact at Euro 2024 and are now aiming to make an instant return to Europe's top tier this season.

However, their last game before the final is against opponents they've only beaten once in the last four meetings, although that was in the 2020 Nations League.

After missing out on the Euros once again, Norway's superstar striker Erling Haaland returned to the international scene by scoring the winning goal against Austria in Oslo.

Haaland – who spent some time in the Austrian Bundesliga before heading to Manchester via Dortmund – showed he wasn't bothered about breaking long-standing records on Thursday evening, when he became his country's highest international scorer.

The 24-year-old scored his 34th goal just after the hour mark, making it his second of the game. Each goal was scored on either side of a strike by fellow forward Alexander Sorloth.

Although Stale Solbakken's team had a disappointing start to their 2024-25 season with a goalless draw in Kazakhstan, they've now won two games in a row and are leading Group 3 at the midway point with seven points.

Norway may have been waiting a long time to appear at a major finals, but if they can win their next two games, Haaland and his teammates might soon be competing with Europe's top teams in League A.

Recent Performance

Austria Nations League form:DLW

Austria form (all competitions):WWLDLW

Norway Nations League form:DWW

Norway form (all competitions):DWLDWW

Injuries and suspensions

Austria

21S. Kalajdzic

4X. Schlager

Norway

10 Martin Ødegaard

Possible starting lineups

Austria(4-2-3-1)

1Schlager(GK)

5Posch(DR)

15Lienhart(DC)

4Trauner(DC)

8Prass(DL)

20Laimer(DMC)

6Seiwald(DMC)

18Schmid(AMR)

19Baumgartner(AMC)

9Sabitzer(AML)

16Adamu(FW)

Norway(4-4-2)

1Nyland(GK)

3Ajer(DR)

21Hanche-Olsen(DC)

4Østigård(DC)

5Wolfe(DL)

14Ryerson(MR)

2Thorsby(MC)

8Berge(MC)

20Nusa(ML)

7Sørloth(FW)

9Haaland(FW)