Baumgartner made the acquaintance of Bucharest cloudbursts
The day before the European Football Championship opening game against North Macedonia did not go as planned for the Austrian national football team. Downpours in Bucharest made a final training session on Saturday in the Arena Nationala, where the game will take place on Sunday, impossible. The players had already moved and were ready for the unit, but were then redirected at short notice with an escort to the Ghencea Stadium, about 20 minutes away by bus and eleven kilometers away.
Nevertheless, the ÖFB team did not let this spoil their good mood – Christoph Baumgartner and Stefan Posch, for example, slid on their stomachs for meters across the underwater lawn of the Arena Nationala. Training at Ghencea Stadium, where the lawn was in good condition, finally started shortly before 5:00 p.m. CEST, around an hour and a half later than planned, and lasted around an hour.
Shortly afterwards, the North Macedonians completed their last training session at the same location, which was originally planned for the Arena Nationala. The North Macedonians know the situation as they use the newly built Ghencea Stadium as their training center because their EURO base camp is in Bucharest. The weather conditions in Bucharest are currently sultry. Thunderstorms are also forecast for the game day.
