EURO 2020: How ‘versatile’ Sabitzer dominated multiple phases of play vs North Macedonia – tactical analysis

North Macedonia played their first-ever game at a major international tournament on Sunday versus Austria. They ultimately lost the match 3-1, but this fixture was always going to be cause for celebration for the southeastern European side given the circumstances. Fans of the country which has a population of just over 2 million people were given even more reason to celebrate in the 28th minute when 37-year-old national hero Goran Pandev scored North Macedonia’s first-ever goal at the UEFA European Football Championship.

Pandev’s goal was an equaliser to Stefan Lainer’s 18th-minute opener, and despite delivering what has been described as a ‘spirited’ performance, the European Championship debutants were denied a point as Michael Gregoritsch put Austria back into the lead in the 78th minute and Marko Arnautović scored in the 89th minute to seal all three points for Das Team.

The “versatile” midfielder Marcel Sabitzer of Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, who’s been the subject of transfer links to EPL North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal among other clubs of late, played an important role in his team’s game-winning tactics on Sunday. In this piece, we provide a tactical analysis of Sabitzer’s role in Austria’s tactics for their opening game of EURO 2020, which saw the 27-year-old deliver a dominant display in multiple phases of play. This tactical analysis also discusses North Macedonia’s tactics, how and why Sabitzer was key for Austria in breaking them down, and some examples both of what Рисови Risovi did well and what they did badly in response to Austria and Sabitzer’s impressive performance.

Lineups and formations

Firstly, we’ll discuss both teams’ lineups and formations from Sunday’s game, which can be seen in figure 1. Starting with the eventual winners, Austria lined up in a 3-1-4-2 shape for this fixture. Daniel Bachmann started in goal, behind a back three consisting of Aleksandar Dragović at right centre-back, Martin Hinteregger at left centre-back, and David Alaba in the central centre-back position.

Lainer started at right wing-back, Andreas Ulmer played at left wing-back, while Austria’s central midfield trio consisted of Konrad Laimer on the right, Sabitzer on the left, and Xaver Schlager in a central, holding midfield position. Lastly, Christoph Baumgartner started at left centre-forward, alongside Saša Kalajdžić at right centre-forward.