“I trusted my instinct, listened to my heart and decided to stay here. From my point of view, it is the right decision: I am Austria’s coach with all my heart,” assured Ralf Rangnick (Backnang, 1958)just a month ago, to justify his decision to reject Bayern and focus on the European Championship.
Netherlands 2-3 Austria: summary and goals | Euro Cup (J3)
Time has given it a reason. Austriawhich had just beaten Germany (2-0) and beaten Turkey (6-1) in the warm-up friendlies, has beaten France, the Netherlands and Poland to reach the round of 16 as leader of Group D. Türkiye is waiting for you.
“It is incredible to finish first in the group that, according to the UEFA coefficient, was the most complicated,” points out Rangnick, who, heading to the Euros, lost four key players due to injury: goalkeeper Alexander Schlager (Salzburg), captain David Alaba (Real Madrid), ‘metronome’ Xaver Schlager (Leipzig) and ‘tank’ Sasa Kalajdzic (Eintracht Frankfurt).
It is incredible to finish first in the group that, according to the UEFA coefficient, was the most complicated
Rangnick, unfortunately, became known worldwide for his fights with Cristiano during his brief cameo on the Manchester United bench: “This guy is not even a coach. His signing – he came as sports director – not only surprised me, but the whole world,” Ronaldo even stated.
This guy isn’t even a coach. His signing – he arrived as sports director – not only surprised me, but the entire world.
“Beckenbauer asked me about him”
However, the Austrian coach is considered a ‘guru’ in Germany. He would become like “the coach of coaches”, paraphrasing the words of Martí Perarnau about Lillo’s influence on Guardiola.
Poland 1-3 Austria: summary and goals | Euro Cup (J2)
“Rangnick was a pioneer for the Klopps, Tuchel… The promoter of a different football,” points out the Spaniard Richard Moar, who met him when he was sports director of Hannover. “I think Klopp has said that he is an admirer of Rangnick and it is not a coincidence. Their style is similar. In fact, he has signed several players who have grown up with Rangnick because he knows they will fit well,” he points out. Rafa González, RB Leipzig scout.
Klopp has said that he is an admirer of Rangnick and it is no coincidence
Germany had just beaten it in two consecutive European Championships – they fell in the group stage in 2000 and 2004 – and Rangnick, an admirer of Sacchi and Lobanovskyi, turned fussball upside down, banishing the figure of the ‘libero’ forever.
“We were winning 2-0 against Bayern… and I wanted more! I remember Beckenbauer asked me about him because he saw that he did different things. He is a very interventionist coach, but functional, very field-oriented, and with clear ideas,” he continues. Moar.
As a coach he reached his ‘ceiling’ with Schalke. “I was very young, but I remember that they called him ‘The Professor’. He had everything under control and the sessions were very well structured. I really liked his way of training,” he emphasizes. Sergio Escudero to BRAND.
The former Sevilla player was part of that Schalke team led by Raúl and Neuer that won the Cup, Super Cup and reached the semifinals of the Champions League, for the first time in its history, in 2010-11. “It was incredible, we eliminated Inter, who were the current champions,” he says before diving into Rangnick’s ‘script’: “I worked a lot on pressure after loss (‘gegenpressing’), which was not common at that time, but he liked to have several registers: possession, withdrawal… He was very complete.”
They called him ‘The Professor’. He worked a lot on loss pressure (‘gegenpressing’), which was not common at the time.
Suddenly, something in his head said enough. He suffered a crisis of exhaustion due to stress (‘burnout’), left Schalke and decided to take a backseat. Rangnick became the ‘ideologist’ of the ‘Red Bull’ philosophy, the football version of Christian Horner, to understand us.
“Salzburg went from being a good team to a dominant club. The style he brought, together with the quality we already had, led us to success. We were very heavy, even crazy at times in the pressure. “After beating Bayern 3-0 in a friendly, Guardiola admitted to me that he had been amazed,” confesses Jonathan Soriano in MARCA.
Guardiola, after beating them 3-0 in a friendly, told me that he had been amazed by our style of play
Depending on the season, Roger Schmidt, Addi Hütter, Óscar García sat on the bench… but the one who ‘pulled the strings’ was Rangnick. “He sees football with a very physical mentality. He always told us that if we did more kilometers and more high-intensity races than our rival, it would be very difficult for them to beat us. He told me: ‘Forget about marking. Run and press. If you do that, I’ll be happy. Furthermore, he is very methodical. “He trusts a lot in data and technology, something that, at that time, was not seen much,” says the former Salzburg ‘9’.
A recipe and a success that He knew how to transfer Leizpig, which rose from Fifth to the Bundesliga in seven seasons. The last promotion, in fact, was achieved with Rangnick on the bench. However, the coach, who had already promoted Hoffenheim from the Third Division to the elite, immediately took another step aside.
“I find it more challenging to build something from nothing than to try to be successful with an already established team. However, now it is important that I resume my job as sports director to continue working to make us better every day. I must focus more on the structural elements of our development,” At that time, Rangnick himself confessed to MARCA.
I find it more challenging to build something from nothing than to try to be successful with an already established team.
Now he seeks to be successful with Austria. We’ll see how far it goes…
