“I developed very well”

Three goals in three international matches in November. Adrian Grbic has impressively proved his worth for the Austrian team this fall. The 24-year-old has scored four goals after seven appearances for Austria. The winning goal against Northern Ireland (2: 1) was followed by a draw against Norway (1: 1) as a wild card on Wednesday, marking the group victory in the Nations League.

Grbic hopes to play an important role in team boss Franco Foda’s planning for the upcoming European Championship year. “I think I have developed very well in the past year,” said the French legionnaire. “I will stand my ground and keep working hard on myself. I will do my best to recommend myself for other assignments.”

The Viennese had only been called up to team A for the first time in September after a ten million euro transfer from French second division club Clermont Foot to club Oberhaus FC Lorient. “It’s November and I’ve already scored my fourth goal,” Grbic said. He still hasn’t really realized that he’s already scored three international matches in a row. “I am happy for the team that we made first place. I hope it continues like this.”

Foda: “Grbic is a player who is there immediately”

Foda has almost always used Grbic as a substitute. Only in the October test against Greece (2-1) did he play from the beginning. “Grbic is a player who is there as soon as he enters, who is very present,” said the team boss. “Adrian is doing great right now.” In Lorient, too, the ÖFB forward was mainly in the role of joker recently. He has two goals this season in ten league games. Foda hopes: “Maybe his success rate with the national team will make him play more regularly”:

Lorient is like table 17. Just before the relegation zone, on Sunday he leaves before the runner-up of the table Lille. Grbic wants to deal with big names on the national team in the future. The importance of promotion to Nations League League A is correspondingly great. “For all of us and for Austrian football, it is very important that we can compare ourselves with the best nations,” stressed Grbic. “That’s where the best of the best plays. That’s where we wanted to go, that’s where we are now, and that’s where we’ll give it our all.”

For him, that outweighed the poor performance against Norway’s Notelf. “When you finish first, it’s always good. We made too many mistakes in this game,” said the Austria striker. “In two or three weeks, or a little later, nobody will ask how the group victory came about. In the end, it’s the points that we score.”

He himself shone in the goal on the side of Marko Arnautovic, as he did against Northern Ireland. The Chinese legionnaire, with whom he had similar basic soccer training in the squares of Vienna, is still clearly ahead of him in the ÖFB attacking rankings. As long as Foda relies on a center forward, the former Altacher should have to line up behind Arnautovic. Grbic: “Whether I come off the bench or play from the start, as a forward I always want to score my goals.” Recently he did it regularly in the ÖFB team.

Nations League: The Table