Austria will be hoping to begin their European Championship qualification campaign with a victory at home against Azerbaijan on Friday.

However, the visitors potentially represent dangerous opponents having won each of their last five games ahead of their trip to Linz.

Match preview

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After being relegated from League A in the Nations League last year, Austria restored significant confidence by securing friendly wins agianst Andorra and Italy in November.

Das Team have been led by former Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick since last April, with the German putting his woes in Manchester aside to win his first game in charge in emphatic fashion by beating Croatia 3-0 away from home in the opening round of Nations League fixtures.

However, just one point from their following five matches saw them relegated to League B, ramping up the pressure on Rangnick to deliver in competitive matches going forward.

With two home matches against the weakest nations in Group F in the shape of Azerbaijan and Estonia this week, anything less than a return of maximum points would represent a minor catastrophe for Austria, who will be aiming to finish ahead of Belgium and/or Sweden to claim an automatic qualification spot for Euro 2024 in Rangnick's homeland.

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Azerbaijan will almost certainly be no pushovers at Raiffeisen Arena on Friday evening, though, with Gianni De Biasi's side set to be full of confidence having put together an impressive winning streak of five matches.

The Italian, who took over as Milli Komanda boss in July 2020, had only two of 25 matches in charge prior to their home match against Belarus last June, but four wins have since followed.

Azerbaijan narrowly missed out on promotion from League C in the Nations League, with Kazakhstan pipping them to top spot by three points, but consecutive away wins against Slovakia, Moldova and North Macedonia in recent months has dispelled the idea that Di Biasi's side are an easy opponent away from their home ground in Baku.

Having failed to win a single match in either of their most recent competitive tournament qualification campaigns, Di Biasi will be desperate to improve on that record as a minimum target, with securing a top three finish set to be a difficult task given the relative strength of three of their opponents in Group F.

Team News

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With only three of his outfield players aged older than 30, Rangnick appears to be prioritising youth ahead of the forthcoming campaign, with 100-capped defender Aleksandar Dragovic a notable absentee from Austria's squad.

However, captain David Alaba unsurprisingly retains his place in the squad, with the Real Madrid defender set to join Dragovic in the 100 club should he appear in both matches across the coming week.

Marko Arnautovic, who is the oldest player in Austria's squad, is expected to lead the line against Azerbaijan, while Jonas Auer and Mathias Honsak will hope to make their international debuts at some point across the next two games.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, have also left a wealth of experience out of their travelling squad, with the likes of Badavi Huseynov, Maksim Medvedev and Gara Garayev all seemingly out of favour with De Biasi, despite having made over 200 caps combined during their careers.

That said, only Azer Aliyev and backup goalkeeper and Yusif Imanov are potential debutants, with star player Emin Mahmudov set to start in the visitors' engine room.

Austria possible starting lineup:
Lindner; Lienhart, Alaba, Wober; Mwene, Laimer, Seiwald, Adamu; Baumgartner, Sabitzer; Arnautovic

Azerbaijan possible starting lineup:
Balayev; Haghverdi, Mustafazade, Hasanalizade, Cafarguliyev; Almeida, Mahmudov; Sheydayev, Isayev, Kokcu; Gurbanli

We say: Austria 2-0 Azerbaijan

Having kept clean sheets in each of their friendly victories during November, Austria should be confident of holding Azerbaijan at arm's length at home on Friday.

Although the visitors have won each of their last five matches, none of their opponents were at a level close to Austria's ability, suggesting that Rangnick's side should be able to kick-start their qualification campaign with a comfortable victory.

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Written by
Brett Curtis

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