The drums of the UEFA European Football Championship were beating on Saturday, and the Austrian national soccer team, in the midst of intense preparations for the tournament, started a warm-up match with Slovakia this morning, with the two sides finally shaking hands in a 0-0 draw.
Shanghai Harbour's foreign aid Arnautovic, who came on in the 64th minute after returning from injury, contributed two threatening attacks for the Austrian team, with one of the shots going narrowly wide of the opponent's goal.
At the pre-match press conference, Arnautovic lost control of his emotions at one point, with tears welling up in his eyes, a scene that attracted widespread attention from the Austrian media.
Talking about the plight of being separated from his family for long periods of time due to the New Crown outbreak, Arnautovic said emotionally, "Life became very different when I couldn't be reunited with my family. I haven't seen my two children for months and it's been really hard. So I am happy to be back in Austria and ready to give my best at the European Championships to bring goodness to this country, my family." After expressing these words, it took a few minutes for Arnautovic to calm his emotions.
Austria's head coach Fouda said he understood Arnautovic's feelings, "People often say that players are professionals, so they have to be how they are. But the truth is that we are all ordinary people and everyone has their own emotions."
Fouda also said that although the epidemic has left the players with few opportunities to be with their families, he will do his best to create them, "Families are very important to the players, they give us strength and we need that strength and support at the European Championships."
Arnautovic, who has been in excellent form since his comeback from injury, admitted that his experience in our country has been great and that he has already found good form through the warm-up matches, despite the fact that the league has only just begun.
Arnautovic suffered an injury in the fourth round of the Chinese Super League last season, which caused him to miss training before the national team. Now, he has fully recovered and says he is happy to be back with the national team.
Arnautovic was one of the players in the Austrian squad that played at EURO 2016 and, despite failing to qualify for the group stage, had held eventual winners Portugal to a 0-0 draw.
Speaking about the upcoming European Championships, Arnautovic said, "Last time and this time, we are a strong team. Of course, all of our opponents in this group are also very strong, and we have to give it our all and take it seriously."
At this year's European Championships, Austria is in Group C with the Netherlands, Ukraine and Northern Macedonia.
Austria group stage fixtures (Beijing time)
June 14th 00:00 Austria vs North Macedonia
June 18 03:00 Netherlands vs Austria
June 22nd 00:00 Ukraine vs Austria
Source：Weekly Shanghai Author：Yu Jiong
