TORONTO — Austria coach Ralf Rangnick believes containing Spain winger Lamine Yamal will be one of the decisive factors in Thursday’s World Cup round-of-32 clash, describing the teenage star as a player admired by football fans around the world.
Yamal has been gradually eased back into action after suffering a hamstring injury in April, playing just 141 minutes across Spain’s three group-stage matches while scoring once as the tournament favorites advanced unbeaten.
Despite the limited workload, Rangnick said Austria must be prepared to neutralize one of football’s most gifted young players.
“Lamine Yamal is an excellent player, and he will be for the next 12, 13 or 14 years, maybe even longer,” Rangnick told reporters Wednesday.
“If he stays healthy and keeps a straight head on his shoulders, he can play a lot of matches.”
The Austria coach said preventing Yamal from receiving the ball in dangerous positions would be a central element of his tactical plan.
“He is one of the players we will watch very closely tomorrow, not to give him a lot of room or too many opportunities to start his dribbling actions,” Rangnick said.
“He is a player that all football fans, no matter where they are from, love to watch. But it is our task tomorrow to let him have the ball as little as possible.”
Austria reached the knockout stage after scoring six goals during the group phase, one more than Spain, but Rangnick acknowledged his team faces a significant step up in quality against a side unbeaten in 34 consecutive matches dating back to March 2023.
“We all know that we need to do even better tomorrow,” he said. “Against Spain this is obvious. We have to make one further step.”
Austria captain David Alaba, who spent five seasons with Real Madrid before joining Bayern Munich earlier this year, said his side respects Spain’s quality but has no intention of abandoning its attacking identity.
“They play very attractive football,” Alaba said. “They have enormous quality and individual players that can make a difference.”
“But we don’t want to hide. We really want to play forward and try to be successful.”
Austria will be without defender Phillipp Mwene because of injury, although Rangnick expressed confidence that his squad has sufficient depth to cope with the absence.
The coach insisted his players remain convinced they can challenge one of the tournament favorites and extend Austria’s World Cup campaign despite facing one of the strongest teams left in the competition.
Spain enter the match having impressed throughout the group stage, but Austria hopes its disciplined pressing game and direct attacking approach can unsettle the European powerhouse and produce one of the biggest upsets of the knockout round.
