BERLIN, June 13 (Xinhua) -- 16,000 fans in the "Arena Nationala" in Bucharest witnessed the lucky hand of Austrian coach Franco Foda at the Euro 2020 on Sunday.
Successful substitutions of the 55-year-old German made his side win its Group C curtain-raiser against underdog North Macedonia by 3-1.
Chinese Super League player Marko Arnautovic (Shanghai Port) scored the last goal in the dying minutes following the 2-1 of Bundesliga player Michael Gregoritsch (FC Augsburg) after 78 minutes.
Stefan Lainer made the 1-0 lead for Austria after 18 minutes. 2010 Champions League winner Goran Pandev levelled the score for North Macedonia after 28 minutes.
Pandev became the second oldest scorer in the Euro's history at the age of 37 years and 321 days. Austrian Ivica Vastic was 38 and 257 days when scoring the 1-1 equalizer against Poland at the Euro 2008 by a penalty in extra time.
Euro newcomer North Macedonia presented a surprise with a bold approach challenging the Austrian favorites nearly over the entire 90 minutes.
Both Arnautovic and Gregoritsch turned up on the pitch after halftime with Austria in a tough fight to gain game control and turning things to good.
"It's fantastic. This means everything to me," Gregoritsch said with tears in his eyes. "Today it's my brothers' birthday, and I went through a hard year. So it's like a big party for the ones that supported me all the time. Then, finally, a dream comes true that was world-class," he added.
"We ruled the game but got the 1-1 after a small mistake," Gregoritsch said.
Alaba changed his role in the last 15 minutes and started to support his national team's attacks more efficiently. "We knew about the importance of the game for our campaign. It took a while to get through, but in the end, we deserved the victory," Alaba stated.
In the first half, Foda surprised by appointing Bayern Munich's 2020 treble David Alaba as a central instead of the midfield as expected. The plan failed, and Austria increased its efforts with new faces after halftime.
Beating North Macedonia, Austria secured its first victory in a European Championship final round in its third participation.
Austria will meet the Netherlands in their second group match on Thursday while North Macedonia faces Ukraine. Enditem
