"Simply Idiotic" - ÖFB Stars React to Israel Goal Celebration

Austria's national football team can also win without big names like David Alaba, Marko Arnautovic, or Marcel Sabitzer.

To kick off the UEFA Nations League, they secured a late home victory against Israel (to the match report >>>).

However, one scene caused head-shaking even after the final whistle. Israel's goalscorer Sayed Abu Farkhi was shown a yellow-red card immediately after scoring his equalizer - because of his goal celebration.

"Simply Idiotic"

The reactions of the ÖFB players to the goal celebration, which can be interpreted as an implied firing of a rifle, ranged from incomprehension to shrugs.

"I believe that in the phase the country is in, or rather, where we currently are, that's simply idiotic," said Wimmer. "I think something like that generally has no place in football - and especially not in the situation they are in, I believe, even less so."

Mwene described the action as "stupid," especially since the referee had generally handed out very lenient yellow cards. "Unacceptable, rightly sent off," said midfielder Nicolas Seiwald.

Despite Abu Farkhi's equalizer, the momentum shifted back to the Austrians due to the yellow-red card. "We then pushed. And perhaps in the end, it was meant to be that we won the game because of it."

The next test awaits on Sunday (6:00 PM in the LIVE ticker), when they face Kosovo, managed by former ÖFB national team coach Franco Foda, at the almost sold-out Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna.