Football
ESPN staff 8y

David Alaba had to be substituted for Austria to earn draw - Marcel Koller

Austria coach Marcel Koller said he had to take off David Alaba in the second half as the Bayern Munich star struggled to adapt to a new position during the goalless draw with Portugal on Saturday.

Generally a full-back, Alaba was deployed as a No. 10 against Portugal, and although he nearly scored from a curling free kick that was cleared off the line, he was replaced by Alessandro Schopf in the 65th minute.

Koller defended his decision to play Alaba in the midfield, but said a change was needed as Austria tried to fend off the Portuguese attack.

"We thought a bit about how we wanted to play and it went well today. David has played a lot of positions for us. He did well in my view but I wanted to bring in some fresh legs because the Portuguese were really pushing for a victory," Koller said.

He added: "It was hard for Alaba to fit into a new position, but in my opinion he did it well, and worked well with [Martin] Harnik going forward. They closed off a lot of space in their defensive work, which was important for us."

Goalkeeper Robert Almer drew high praise from his manager after making a number of saves to deny Cristiano Ronaldo.

"Robert Almer has always played well for the national team. When we started four-and-a-half years ago he wasn't playing for his club, but he showed his qualities," Koller said. "He anticipates well and had a lot to do today.

"I'm happy -- he was injured before the competition and we weren't sure if he would make it -- but he has plenty of quality. As I said, he played fantastically today and contributed to a great team performance."

Koller was particularly pleased with how his side contained Ronaldo.

"If [Ronaldo] had scored, it probably would have meant that we'd be going home, so obviously it was good for us," Koller said. "We were well-organised against him, as you have to be against a world-class player. We're happy that he was offside for his headed goal, too."

Austria earned their first point following an opening defeat to Hungary, but they will need to defeat Republic of Ireland in their final Group F game to advance.

"I've obviously already watched Iceland, they're compact, strong and we'll have a think about how to succeed in this game," Koller said.

^ Back to Top ^