Northern Ireland v Austria

AUSTRIA SQUAD

Words Liam Blackburn

GOALKEEPERS

ALEXANDER SCHLAGER LASK LINZ

PAVAO PERVAN WOLFSBURG

CICAN STANKOVIC RED BULL SALZBURG

Age 32 Caps 1 Goals 0

Age Caps 4 Goals 0

27

Age Caps 3 Goals 0

24

Former LASK Linz stopper who has featured fleetingly for Bundesliga club Wolfsburg since a 2018 transfer. Pervan won his maiden call-up for his country in Franco Foda's very first squad back in 2017, though he has made just one appearance, in a 1-0 loss to Latvia last November.

Schlager started both of Austria's opening two Nations League fixtures last month having won his first cap in the Euro 2020 qualifier against North Macedonia when Foda's side booked their passage to next summer’s finals. The goalkeeper has previously won caps for Austria at Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 level.

Now entering his third season as Salzburg's number one, Stankovic has won five successive domestic titles with the Austrian Bundesliga club between 2016 and 2020. Stankovic has kept three clean sheets in his four senior Austria caps, with all of those games coming in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

DEFENDERS

ALEKSANDAR DRAGOVIC BAYER LEVERKUSEN

MARCO FRIEDL WERDER BREMEN

MARTIN HINTEREGGER EINTRACHT FRANKFURT

Age Caps

29 81

Age Caps 0 Goals 0

22

Age Caps

9

47

Goals 1

Goals 4

The player with the most caps in Foda's squad, Dragovic has been a regular for his country since first appearing in 2009. The vastly experienced defender, who spent the 2017-18 season on loan with Leicester City, was sent off in the 2-0 loss to Hungary at Euro 2016 having picked up two cautions.

Friedl was part of Bayern Munich's academy and the left-back appeared in the Champions League for the club. He moved to Bundesliga rivals Werder Bremen, initially on loan, before a permanent deal was struck, and he will hope to earn senior Austria honours soon after being an unused substitute twice in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Played in eight of his country's 10 Euro 2020 qualifiers, scoring his fourth international goal in the 3-1 win over Israel a year ago. Centre-back Hinteregger netted eight times in the league for Frankfurt last season, including twice in a 5-2 loss to Bayern Munich when he also scored an own goal.

STEFAN LAINER BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH

PHILIPP LIENHART FREIBURG

STEFAN POSCH HOFFENHEIM

Age Caps

28 20

Age Caps 1 Goals 0

24

Age Caps 7 Goals 1

23

Goals 1

Picked a good time to score his first international goal as his effort in the 2-1 win over North Macedonia helped Austria book their ticket to the Euro 2020 finals. Right-back Lainer completed 90 minutes in both of the previous Nations League games against Northern Ireland in 2018.

A central defender who previously played for Real Madrid. Lienhart's sole senior appearance for Los Blancos came as a substitute in a Copa del Rey tie when Rafael Benitez was in charge. Now with German club Freiburg, he is still yet to win a senior cap under Foda following his 2017 debut.

Foda picked Posch as one of his centre- backs in each of Austria's first two Nations League games. Posch started 27 Bundesliga games for Hoffenheim last season and featured in their 4-1 league win over Bayern Munich last month. He scored the winner against Slovenia in a Euro 2020 qualifier last year.

CHRISTOPHER TRIMMEL UNION BERLIN

ANDREAS ULMER RED BULL SALZBURG

DAVID ALABA BAYERN MUNICH

Age Caps 7 Goals 0

33

Age Caps

34 19

Age Caps 72 Goals 14 28

Goals 0

Trimmel was called back into the squad last year after a nine-year absence, having won the first of his caps in 2009. A regular with Bundesliga club Union Berlin, only one of Trimmel's seven international appearances have come as a starter, when he played against Latvia in a much- changed team.

The veteran defender has made more than 300 appearances for Red Bull Salzburg and has won nine titles with the club, and he also claimed a championship winners' medal with Austria Vienna. Ulmer started both games against Northern Ireland in 2018 and played in all but two of the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

The standout name in this Austria squad, Alaba won a treble with Bayern Munich last season when he switched to centre-back. He is the youngest player to ever feature for his country after debuting back in 2009 and has been named Austrian Footballer of the Year a record six times.

36

www.irishfa.com

All caps and goals correct before Austria’s game v Greece last Wednesday