Austria, Germany score two of fastest international goals

PARIS: Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner scored one of the fastest ever international goals inside seven seconds on Saturday and was then quickly followed by a similarly lightning strike by Germany’s Florian Wirtz. Baumgartner, 24, went into the record books during a friendly match against Slovakia in Bratislava.

The Leipzig attacker drove through the home defence from kick-off, drifting past three players, before unleashing a 25-metre shot past Martin Dubravka in goal. “We’ve done this variation before, sprinting from kick-off at full risk. The sequence of steps somehow worked out so that I made the run,” Baumgartner told Austrian public broadcaster ORF after the game which his team won 2-0.

“Of course it’s really cool, I’m very happy. The fact that I hit it like that... it’s of course sensational.” He added: “I’m especially pleased that I was able to help the team. That’s the most important thing about the goal.”

Baumgartner’s strike matched the previous record of seven seconds it took Lukas Podolski to score for Germany against Ecuador in May, 2013. The Austrian FA described Baumgartner’s effort as the fastest goal in the history of international football.

“Of course we got off to a really good start, that goal by itself was probably worth the price of admission,” said Austria coach Ralf Rangnick. “After that, we didn’t play a good first half. The second half was much better.”

Meanwhile, later Saturday, Wirtz was just as fast off the mark against France in a friendly in Lyon which Germany won 2-0. The Leverkusen player beat ‘keeper Brice Samba with a superb shot under the crossbar.

“I don’t think anyone understood or realised what was happening. We were all quite surprised, but there was obviously a lot of joy,” Wirtz told German broadcaster ZDF after his first international goal. “You can’t start a match any better.”

Wirtz added that his team’s lightning-fast start had been practised. “But for it to work so well and lead to this chance to score, it’s great.” The fastest goal scored in a World Cup was by Turkey’s Hakan Sukur against South Korea in 2002 after 11 seconds. – AFP