The European Championships kick off this weekend. In the midst of intense preparations, the Austrian team played a warm-up match against Slovakia in the early hours of Beijing time, and the two sides fought to a 0:0 draw.
Shanghai Harbour's foreign aid Arnautovic came on in the 64th minute after returning from injury and contributed to two threatening attacks for the Austrian team, one of which was a shot that nearly went through the opponent's goal.
At the pre-match press conference, Arnautovic lost control of his emotions for a while and tears came out of his eyes, a scene that sparked widespread attention from the Austrian media.
Speaking about the pain of being separated from his family for long periods of time due to the New Crown outbreak, Arnautovic broke down in tears and said, "It's just another life when you can't be with your family. I haven't seen my two children for months and it hasn't been easy. That's why I'm happy to be back in Austria and ready to give it my all at the European Championships to make this country, my family, proud."
It took a few minutes for Arnautovic to calm his emotions after making the comment.
Austria's head coach Fouda said that he understands Arnautovic's feelings very well, "People often say that players are professionals, so that's how they have to be. The truth is that we are all ordinary people and everyone has their own emotions."
Fouda also said that he will do his best to create opportunities for the players to reunite with their families despite the fact that the epidemic has resulted in few opportunities for them to do so, "Families are very important to the players and that gives us strength, and we will need that strength and support at the European Championships."
Back from injury and a threat as soon as he's back
Although the separation from his family was painful for Arnautovic, the striker, who scored a hat-trick in the first round of this year's Chinese Super League, said the season had started very positively before his injury, "The time in China is still very good and we have prepared very well. I'm fully fit and training very hard, and although the league has only just started, there have been a lot of warm-up matches beforehand which have put me in good shape."
Arnautovic suffered a thigh muscle strain in the fourth round of the Chinese Super League, during the Harbour's match against Changchun Yatai, "Unfortunately this injury happened two weeks before the national team set-up, which made me miss the previous training. But now I have recovered and am happy to be back again."
The injured Arnautovic has been recovering and training alone at the Austrian team's training camp in Bad Tazmanasdorf. On Friday, he finally started to participate in full team practices.
Head coach Fouda was optimistic about Arnautovic's fitness and form and placed him on the bench for the warm-up match against Slovakia.
Arnautovic really did not live up to everyone's expectations, he is still one of the most threatening attacking players in the Austrian team, and his debut quickly improved the team's attacking power in front of the field. Fouda said after the game, "Arnautovic showed his strength when he came on."
After making his debut in the 64th minute, hitting the post with a shot in the 69th minute, and then nearly breaking through in the 71st minute, Arnautovic said he had fully recovered from his previous muscle injury.
Expected to play in the European Championships as a starter
Arnautovic is hoping that he can contribute to the team at the European Championships, especially by being able to score goals at the European Championships.
The current Austrian international with the most goals (26 goals in 87 games) last played for his national team in the UEFA Europa League against Ireland and Norway last November, where Arnautovic dished out an assist in each of those matches.
Due to the epidemic and our entry policy, Arnautovic did not participate in the Austrian team's three World Cup European qualifiers in March this year, "These matches, in my country I was up in the early hours of the morning to watch."
With Arnautovic missing consecutive matches for Austria, he will now have to compete for a starting spot with young striker Karaitz of Stuttgart in the Bundesliga.
The 2-meter tall Karaitz scored 16 goals in the just-ended Bundesliga season, a good efficiency that puts him sixth in the top scorer list. Karaitz started all five of the Austrian team's games this year and contributed three goals.
However, judging from Arnautovic's performance in more than 30 minutes of this game, as long as he is healthy, he is still very hopeful to play in this year's European Championships as a starter.
Arnautovic is one of eight players in this Austrian team who were involved in EURO 2016 and despite finishing bottom of the group stage and failing to qualify, they had held eventual winners Portugal to a 0:0 draw.
Speaking about the upcoming start of yet another European Championship, Arnautovic appeared cautious, "Last time and this time we are a strong team. And of course we have strong opponents in this group, so we have to give it our all and take it seriously."
Joining Austria in Group C at this year's European Championships are 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
