PARIS, France: Austria scored one of the fastest ever international goals inside seven seconds on Saturday and was then quickly followed by a similarly lightning strike by Germany.
Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner, 24, secured a place in the record books for his goal during a friendly match in Bratislava. The Leipzig attacker drove through the enemy’s defence from kick-off before hitting a 25-metre shot past Martin Dubravka in goal.
“Of course, it’s really cool, I’m very happy. The fact that I hit it like that… it’s of course sensational,” Baumgartner told Austrian public broadcaster ORF after the game which his team won 2-0.
Baumgartner’s strike matched the seven seconds it took Lukas Podolski to score for Germany against Ecuador in May, 2013.
The Austrian FA described the striker’s effort as the fastest goal in the history of international soccer.
“Of course, we got off to a really good start, that goal by itself was probably worth the price of admission,” said Austria coach Ralf Rangnick.
Meanwhile, later Saturday, Germany’s Florian Wirtz was just as fast against France in a friendly in Lyon which Germany won 2-0.
The Leverkusen player beat ‘keeper Brice Samba with a superb shot under the crossbar.
“I don’t think anyone understood or realised what was happening. We were all quite surprised, but there was obviously a lot of joy,” Wirtz told German broadcaster ZDF after his first international goal.
“You can’t start a match any better,” said Wirtz adding that his team’s lightning-fast start had been practised.
The fastest goal scored in a World Cup was by Hakan Sukur of Turkey against South Korea in 2002 after 11 seconds.
