Poland v Austria: Euro 2024 latest

Today’s match officials

• Referee: Halil Umut Meler

• Referee’s assistants: Alper Ulusoy and Emre Eyisoy

• Fourth official: Rade Obrenovic

• Video assiistant referee: Paolo Valeri

How things stand in Group D: If either of these teams are beaten and the Netherlands and France draw tonight, the loser here cannot qualify for the knockout stages.

If Poland lose and France beat the Dutch, then Lewandowski and chums are out. If Austria lose and the Netherlands win, then Ralf Rangnick’s side are eliminated with a game still to play.

Poland: Robert Lewandowski is ready to hand Poland a major boost by returning to action against Austria, with Wojciech Szczesny adamant their record goalscorer’s mere presence on the pitch will strike fear into their opponents. Ben Fisher reports from Berlin …

Robert Lewandowski: In a team line-up boasting more Zs than a good night’s sleep, the name of Poland’s star striker is conspicuous by its absence. Despite pre-match reports to the contrary from the team HQ, Robert Lewandowski is only fit enough for the bench. Adam Buksa and Kryzsztof Piatek start up front in Michal Probierz’s side.

Poland: Szczesny, Bednarek, Dawidowicz, Kiwior, Frankowski, Zielinski, Slisz, Piotrowski, Zalewski, Buksa, Piatek.

Subs: Salamon, Walukiewicz, Swiderski, Moder, Lewandowski, Grosicki, Skorupski, Romanchuk, Puchacz, Damian Szymanski, Bereszynski, Sebastian Szymanski, Bulka, Skoras, Urbanski.

Austria: Pentz, Posch, Trauner, Lienhart, Mwene, Seiwald, Grillitsch, Laimer, Baumgartner, Sabitzer, Arnautovic.

Subs: Lindner, Wober, Danso, Prass, Gregoritsch, Hedl, Querfeld, Kainz, Schmid, Daniliuc, Seidl, Wimmer, Weimann, Entrup, Grull.

Group E: Mykola Shaparenko and Roman Yarmachuk got the goals as Ukraine came from behind to beat Slovakia with two second-half strikes.

Early team news

Poland are ready to welcome back Robert Lewandowski after their talismanic striker was forced to sit out their opener against the Netherlands with a thigh injury he picked up in their final warm-up game before the tournament. Karol Swiderski could start alongside Lewandowski, having come off the bench in the second half of Poland’s game against the Netherlands.

Marko Arnautovic could start up front for Austria, having come as a sub for Michael Gregoritsch an hour into Austria’s defeat at the hands of France. Ralf Rangnick played Marcel Sabitzer in an unfamiliar position on the left side of midfield in that game and the Borussia Dortmund player may be handed that role again. Should he move inside to a more central position, Patrick Wimmer could play on the wing.

After losing their opening games, Poland and Austria meet at the Berlin’s Olympiastadion knowing that another defeat would almost certainly end of any chance they have of progressing to the knockout stages of this competition.

Poland began their campaign by losing by the odd goal in three against the Netherlands, while Austria were hugely impressive in their defeat at the hands of Euro 2024 favourites France. Although both teams lost, their head coaches, Michal Probierz and Ralf Rangnick, will have seen enough from their teams to feel confident of coming out on top of this crucial encounter.

Kick-off in Berlin is at 5pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.