Austria’s national football team aims for a historic first-ever spot in the European Championship quarter-finals as they take on Turkey in Leipzig on Tuesday.

The ÖFB-Team’s last knockout phase victory in a major tournament was a 3-1 win over Uruguay at the 1954 World Cup.

Austria enter today’s last-16 tie against Turkey as favourites after topping Group D ahead of France and the Netherlands.

Despite the game’s significance, Austria manager Ralf Rangnick remains cautious. “I don’t think it’s likely we’ll reach the final or win the Euro, but it’s not impossible,” he said at Monday’s press conference in Leipzig, where he spent nearly a decade as sporting director and manager of German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig. “We need to approach each game as if it were our last.”

Austria have won 15 of 25 games since Rangnick took charge two years ago.

This is the 18th meeting between the two sides, including Austria’s emphatic 6-1 victory in a friendly in March, but their first at a major tournament.

Austria will be without offensive player Patrick Wimmer, who is serving a one-match ban, and Gernot Trauner, sidelined with a thigh injury.

Turkey will miss suspended captain Hakan Calhanoglu and centre-back Samet Akaydin. The country’s last Euro knockout phase appearance was in 2008 when they reached the semi-finals before losing to Germany.

In Austria, the game will be shown live on Servus TV from 21:00.

Photo: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH/GEORG HOCHMUTH