Austria U-21 beat Serbia U-21 in first fixture in Group B of Euro U-21

In the third fixture of the tournament Austria played Serbia at the Stadio Nereo Rocco in the first match of Group B.

The opening stages of play saw Austria have most of the possession, controlling the proceedings with 60% of the ball.

In the 11th minute, Austria had a mid-range free-kick which saw Serbia’s keeper Boris Radunovic leaping high to intercept the cross.

Serbia’s first real chance saw Nemanja Radonjic race towards goal but the Austrian defenders got back in time and prevented the danger well with vital blocks.

Four minutes later saw Austria Sascha Horvath attempt a shot on goal but was blocked and Hannes Wolf’s follow-up shot went marginally wide.

In the 37th minute, Austria opened the scoring through Wolf who was in right place at the right time as he diverted his shot into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 Austria.

The referee blew for half-time with Austria 1-0 up against Serbia. Austria looked in control of the whole first-half restricting Serbia to only have one goal attempt compared to their six shots.

Five minutes after the break Serbia came up with a fantastic attack. Radonjic crossed the the ball with the outside of his foot aimed at Luka Jovic with the striker’s header hitting the crossbar.

Only a few seconds later, Austria went up the over end with Xaver Schlager who released a tremendous shot which forced Serbia’s goalkeeper to force a great save.

With the match sparked into life, Austria carried on attacking with Mathias Honsak firing a shot at goal testing Radunovic who made a fine save to keep the shot out in the 55th minute.

In the 62nd minute, Schlager received a great pass that made its way into the box but his pass was intercepted by Radunovic.

In the 72nd minute, a phenomenal pass from Serbia captain Andrija Zivkovic made its way to Radojic but he struck the ball well over the bar from six-yards out.

Just two minutes later, a VAR check caused the referee to hand Serbia’s centre-back Vukasin Jovanovic a red card after a tackle on Wolf which saw the Austrian winger come out with a serious injury.

The resulting free-kick was scored by Horvath and doubled Austria’s lead, 2-0, striking a double blow into Serbian hearts.

Austria kept the two-goal lead until the end beating the Serbian’s 2-0. Austria dominated the whole game and outplayed one of the tournaments favourites.

Line-ups

Serbia: Radunovic; Gajic, Milenkovic, Jovanovic (Red Card 75), Bogosavac; Lukic, Masovic (Racic 58), Pantic ( Randelovic 58); Zivkovic, Jovic, Radonijc

Austria: Schlager; Ullmann, Posch, Danso, Ingolitsch; Ljubic, Linehart (Ljubicic 77); Wolf (Kalajdzic 78), Schlager, Horvath; Honsak (Balic 84)