Having just watched their team claim a thrilling victory over the Netherlands to finish top of Group D, the Austria fans basked in the Berlin sunshine on Tuesday afternoon.
Ralf Rangnick and his players were afforded a standing ovation as they embraced their supporters at full-time in the Olympiastadion.
In what was probably the game of the tournament so far, Austria were quite magnificent. For 90 minutes, they hounded the Netherlands and were thoroughly deserving of their 3-2 victory.
A team and squad of similar stature, Scotland fans wouldn’t be human if they didn’t look at Austria in these Euros and feel a degree of envy. There is also a slight sense of irony in so much that it was Scotland who essentially ushered in the Rangnick era in Austria.
Three years ago, Scotland played the Austrians twice in World Cup qualifying. A 2-2 draw at Hampden was then followed by a vital 1-0 victory for the Scots in Vienna in September 2021.
That result spelled the end for Franco Foda. By the time Scotland returned to Vienna for a friendly just six months later, Foda had resigned from his post after failing to qualify for the World Cup.
Marcel Sabitzer and his Austria team-mates celebrate their stunning defeat of the Netherlands
Sabitzer’s 80th-minute winner completed a win that made Europe sit up and take notice
Romano Schmid races away after scoring Austria’s second goal of the evening in Berlin
Step forward Rangnick. The German head coach was coming to the end of his own ill-fated spell in charge of Manchester United.
With their team searching for a new identity and style of play, the Austrian FA saw an opportunity and asked him the question.
Towards the end of his time at Old Trafford, Rangnick was unfairly ridiculed. He became known as Wreck It Ralf at a club which had pressed the self-destruct button long before his arrival. In the fullness of time, we now know that the problems experienced during that period were far more United problems than they were Rangnick problems.
Plainly, this guy is one of the most influential coaches in European football over the past 25 years, with his gegenpressing machine now working wonders for Austria.
To finish top of a group that also included France and the Netherlands is a fantastic achievement, but you don’t suspect that simply reaching the knockout stage will be the limit of Austria’s ambitions.
Ralf Rangnick has implemented a high-energy game plan that has unsettled some elite teams
They are now very much the dark horses of the entire tournament and few would bet against them going deep into the latter stages. Especially since they have fallen on the more favourable side of the draw that avoids the likes of Germany, Spain, France and Portugal.
Some people are tipping Austria to do a Greece and go all the way, but even that comparison feels slightly off. When Greece won the Euros in 2004, they did so with an extremely pragmatic style of play. They prioritised clean sheets at all costs and, in the knockout stage, won all three games 1-0.
John McGinn scores a neat equaliser to secure a 2-2 draw and deny Austria a win at Hampden
That’s not Austria’s style at all. In the space of two years, Rangnick has moulded this group of players into one of the most exciting and attacking teams in Europe.
They play a 4-2-3-1 system and, as the Dutch would now testify, press opponents to the point of distraction with their energy and aggression.
As they pore over why it went so badly wrong for Scotland in these Euros, the Tartan Army will look at Austria and wonder what might have been. Why? Because, in terms of pound-for-pound quality and talent, Austria’s squad is on a very similar level to Scotland’s.
There are no Gareth Bales and no Robert Lewandowskis, two world-class superstars who carried lesser nations and were so often held up as the missing ingredient from a Scotland perspective.
Dutch forward Memphis Depay feels the heat from Austria’s relentless pressing game
Austria have players plying their trade for the likes of Sturm Graz, Hoffenheim, Mainz and Freiburg. It’s a solid base, on top of which they sprinkle one or two bigger names from Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig. They are an honest, hard- working bunch of players. But, fundamentally, the overall make-up of the Austria squad is no different to Scotland.
Steve Clarke had a solid base, with bigger names from the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Arsenal.
What he lacked, however, was any sense of ambition. In that respect, Austria are the antithesis of what Scotland have become under Clarke.
They are fearless, whereas Scotland were feeble.
Across their three games, Clarke’s side managed a combined XG of 0.95, comfortably the lowest of all 24 teams in the tournament.
The opening night in Munich set the tone for everything. Scotland were passive and unadventurous. That’s not on the players. That’s a coaching problem.
Donyell Malen’s early own goal came after a lively start from Austria
In contrast, Rangnick has instilled his high-octane, high-pressing style of football. Austria are an adventurous team who play on the front foot and attack at every opportunity.
They have a clearly defined style of play, one which has allowed them to punch well above their weight over these past couple of years.
Since Rangnick took charge, they have beaten Italy, Germany and now the Netherlands. That’s three major heavyweight scalps in less than two years.
It is results such as these which are now fuelling the belief that Austria could go deep in these Euros. Certainly, none of the so-called top teams will want to face them.
Clarke will take credit for leading Scotland back to the promised land of two major tournaments. And rightly so. Nobody can ever take than away from him.
But he’s not exempt from criticism. Nor is he exempt from the belief that this group of Scotland players are capable of far more than they have shown over this past year or so.
Rangnick was roundly ridiculed for his time at Manchester United, but who’s laughing now?
In skipper Andy Robertson, Scotland have a player who has already shown over many seasons that he can thrive and excel in a high-pressing system under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
Similarly, Callum McGregor has done it for years at Celtic under Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers. Billy Gilmour is a young, energetic technician in midfield.
John McGinn and Scott McTominay are two powerful box-to-box operators in the middle of the park. Che Adams is quick and mobile, exactly the type of player needed to press from the front.
Any notion that Clarke doesn’t have good enough players is nonsense, harping back to dark days when Gordon Strachan was banging on about genetics.
Clarke does have the right tools at his disposal. The problem is that he’s just not using them properly or in a way that would ever make an impact at a major tournament.
Lyndon Dykes scores from the spot in a 1-0 World Cup qualifying win in Austria back in 2021
With their fearless approach, Austria have shown how it should be done.
They have ripped up the script and are setting these Euros alight. Their supporters are daring to dream.
Scotland fans will rightly look at that and wonder how differently things could have worked out if they had a coach who actually showed some ambition.
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