Norway's star Erling Braut Haaland was a hair's breadth away from giving himself and his team a dream start against Austria. Instead, the game turned around and captain Marko Arnautovic was able to score 1-0 for the home team already in the eighth minute.
Norway would, however, come back. Just before halftime, Alexander Sørloth nodded in the equalizer after a free kick by Julian Ryerson, and the situation was again even when the teams stepped out onto the pitch for the second half – but from there on, Sunday evening in Linz would become something of a nightmare for the Norwegians.
It was again Austria who got a perfect start when the second half began. Already in the 49th minute, Arnautovic saw to it that they regained the lead, when he scored 2-1 from the penalty spot.
The situation that led to the penalty was a crazy tackle by Norwegian defender Andreas Hanche-Olsen, who brought down Christoph Baumgartner.
With barely an hour played, Philipp Lienhart extended Austria's lead when he elegantly nodded in 3-1 – and it didn't stop there. Just minutes later, Stefan Posch was able to score the 4-1 goal, also with a header.
In the end, it was a crushing 5-1, after substitute Michael Gregoritsch had sealed the final result, to the home crowd's great jubilation.
