Austria coach rejects claims of pact with Algeria after World Cup thriller

Ralf Rangnick, Austria’s head coach, dismissed allegations of a pre-arranged result between his team and Algeria following their dramatic 3-3 draw in the World Cup group stage, a scoreline that sent both nations into the round of 16.

The German tactician pointed to the wild final moments as proof: Algeria captain Riyad Mahrez thought he had won it with a 93rd-minute strike, only for Austrian substitute Sasa Kalajdzic to equalise almost on the last touch of the match.

“In this game, when you have a 3-3 score, nobody can assume there was an agreement, especially given what we saw in the final 90 seconds,” Rangnick said.

“If someone had predicted what would happen three minutes from time, they would have been called crazy,” he added.

“I’ve been a coach for about 40 years and I can’t recall a match with such a spectacular turn of events and such an unexpected trajectory.

“Most people expected 0-0 or 1-1, and in the end it’s 3-3. It’s incredible. The dressing room is in chaos. If Alfred Hitchcock had written such a script, I would probably have said he was completely insane.”

Rangnick also stressed that both teams kept attacking and trying to score even before Mahrez’s late goal.

“Anyone who watched the last 15 minutes knows well that there was no sign the players were desperate for a draw,” he said. “I think they wanted to win.

“Nobody can tell me that at the 93rd minute someone suddenly thought, ‘Oh yes, let’s score another goal’. I think that might have been the idea of one or two Algerian players, but I believe it wasn’t the case for the rest of the team and certainly not for me.”