Leroy Sané gets wild straight red card in Austria vs Germany | OneFootball

Highlights

Preparations for Euro 2024 haven't exactly been going great for tournament hosts Germany of late. And this was well summed up by the ridiculous red card winger Leroy Sané picked up in the friendly match against Austria.

As the international tournament is going to be held in Germany, Die Mannschaft have actually already qualified for next summer's competition. And it's a good thing they've been afforded this privilege too, or else they may not have done enough to take part next summer.

After all, in September, they had to fire head coach Hansi Flick after losing four times in their last five games, which also came on the back of their embarrassing group-stage exit at the 2022 World Cup. What's more, this was the first time in the national team's history that they've ever actually sacked their manager, with the role created in 1926.

Issues already as Nagelsmann takes charge of Germany

Julian Nagelsmann was appointed as the man to take over but it appears as though not all is going smoothly so far. For instance, in their most recent match, hoping to get something positive out of a bold new change, he opted to play Kai Havertz at left-back. However, this didn't help much as he proceeded to watch his new team lose 3-2 at home to Turkey.

Just days later, the Germans had another friendly match. This time they came up against Austria at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna. They didn't get off to a good start in this game either though as Marcel Sabitzer put the home team into the lead after 29 minutes.

With Germany losing 1-0 at half-time, Nagelsmann and his players must have been feeling pretty frustrated during the break. This certainly would go some way to explaining Sané's wild behaviour just four minutes into the second half.

Sané gets silly red card in Germany vs Austria

As you can see from the footage shared on social media below. The Bayern Munich winger was chasing after Austria's Phillipp Mwene. He clips the opposition player with a poor tackle from behind and then seems to intentionally kick him while he's on the ground. The two players fall over but the fullback jumps to his feet and confronts Sané who then completely loses his head.

The former Manchester City man shoves Mwene with two hands directly in the face and it's no surprise that referee Slavko Vincic reaches for the red card. Suffice to say, when Marko Arnautović is the man trying to calm you down as you leave the field, you've probably gone a step too far.

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Interestingly enough, as per Opta, this was actually the first red card of his career. Indeed, Sané was sent off for the first time in his 402nd game as a professional footballer, which includes 59 games for Germany, 151 for FC Bayern, 135 for Manchester City, and 57 for FC Schalke. If this head loss from the usually calm footballer doesn't tell you something isn't quite right with the national team right now, then we're not quite sure what will.

With the Germans set to host Euro 2024 next summer, they don't have too long to sort themselves out. On this occasion, however, they were left with even more concerns as Christoph Baumgartner later added a second to make the final score 2-0.