Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner scores fastest ever international goal inside game’s opening six seconds
By Issy Ronald, CNN
(CNN) — Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner scored the fastest ever international goal on Saturday, taking just six seconds to find the back of the net during his country’s 2-0 victory against Slovakia.
Immediately after kickoff, he weaved through the Slovakian defense before rifling the ball into the net from well outside the box, sparking wild celebrations on and off the pitch as he was mobbed by his teammates and the traveling Austrian fans jumped up and down in the stands.
The 24-year-old’s goal was even faster than Lukas Podolski’s strike for Germany against Ecuador in 2013, which clocked in at seven seconds and was the previous record.
Austria had to wait more than 80 minutes for its second goal when Andreas Weinmann doubled its lead and secured a 2-0 victory.
It wasn’t the only extremly early goal of the day.
Later that evening, Florian Wirtz scored Germany’s fastest ever international goal as his team claimed a 2-0 victory against France in Lyon, taking just a second longer than Baumgartner to find the back of the net.
His effort was a few hundredths of second faster than Poldoski in 2013 and came from a pre-planned move after he latched onto Toni Kroos’ long pass downfield from halfway, continued unmarked and fired in a strike from outside the box.
“We had a very good start and the kickoff was planned exactly that way,” Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann said afterwards, per Reuters.
“It was important to protect the lead and after the break we improved further and carved out more chances. I am very satisfied with the way we fought. It is what we wish, to give it all every time.
France never recovered from such an early blow, and when Kai Havertz scored Germany’s second goal shortly after halftime, Germany never reliquished its two-goal lead over the 2022 World Cup runners up.
The-CNN-Wire
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