Poland vs Austria EURO 2024 Group D Matchday 2 preview: Where to watch, kick-off time, possible line-ups

Poland and Austria meet in their second matches of UEFA EURO 2024 in Group D on Friday 21 June.

Where to watch Poland vs Austria on TV

Fans can find their local UEFA EURO 2024 broadcast partner(s) here. 

What do you need to know?

Some friendships may be put on hold in Berlin when these sides scrap for their first points in a challenging Group D. Poland's Przemysław Frankowski and Austria's Kevin Danso are team-mates at Lens, while Polish goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski and Austria defender Stefan Posch helped Bologna earn a 2024/25 UEFA Champions League place this past season. However, none can afford to go easy on their club-mates.

Poland will hope to call on talismanic forward Robert Lewandowski, their captain and all-time top scorer having missed the 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands through injury. An own goal cost Austria in the 1-0 loss to France, but Ralf Rangnick can take solace in the fact that his team didn't merely keep the goal-count down, but came close to achieving parity with one of the sides regarded as tournament favourites.

Possible line-ups

Poland: Szczęsny; Bednarek, Dawidowicz, Kiwior; Frankowski, Moder, Romanczuk, Zieliński, Zalewski; Urbański; Lewandowski

Austria: Pentz; Posch, Danso, Wöber, Mwene; Seiwald, Laimer; Wimmer, Sabitzer, Baumgartner; Gregoritsch

Form guide

Poland:
Form (all competitions, most recent first): LWWDWW

Austria:
Form (all competitions, most recent first): LDWWWW

Expert predictions

Piotr Koźmiński, Poland reporter

Although Poland did not get any points from the Netherlands game, they were praised by their fans for playing good courageous football. It gave the players confidence and they have stressed that the team will continue this way. On the other hand, they are aware that it is now or never. Considering the difficulty of their Matchday 3 game against France, Poland will aim for all three points in Berlin. Lewandowski's possible return should also boost hopes in the Polish camp.

James Thorogood, Austria reporter

Talking to Austria fans before the tournament, the oft-quoted route to a second successive knockout berth was "beat Poland and take something off either France or the Netherlands". While Rangnick's charges were disappointed not to snatch a share of the spoils against tournament favourites France, their opening fixture was never going to define their group campaign. However, Friday's encounter will, and the France result only magnifies the fact that this is a must-win game.

What the coaches say

Michał Probierz, Poland coach: "Have I had sleepless nights before this game? Definitely not. In general I sleep very well, especially when I know that as a coach I have done my best to prepare the team. Austria play aggressive football so we have to do the same. But on the other side, that is not enough. I want us to do both: to play aggressively, but play good football as well. If we combine those things, then our prospects of winning will improve."

Ralf Rangnick, Austria coach: "The essence of the game is clear. It has the character of a knockout match. Both teams have a good chance to go through with a win, a draw doesn't really help either of us. How it will ultimately play out is up to how we perform, and that's what we're focused on. Both teams have their own style. We're expecting them to play with a three-man back line on the ball and a five-man back line off the ball. Italy, Estonia or Serbia, who we faced before the EURO, all had a similar approach so it's not like we've never come up against sides who set up defensively. We want to reach the knockouts and we always knew we'd have to beat at least one, maybe two teams in our group to achieve that. Our style of play isn't set up to try and get draws. We'll be playing for the win."