Rangnick praises Lienhart: Why the Freiburg native is the backbone of the Austrian FA
Ralf Rangnick, in office since May 2022 and having coached 53 games so far, describes Philipp Lienhart as an extremely valuable player and reliability personified, after the 30‑year‑old centre‑back was in the squad for all 36 internationals in which he was fit, without exception.
Austria has never lacked a player in this position; in recent years there have been enough centre‑backs, one played for Real Madrid, another in the Premier League. Kevin Danso has 33 internationals, David Alaba 25.
Club career and rise
Since his tenth season with SC Freiburg, Lienhart has been a regular; his journey began in 2008 in Lilienfeld in Rapid’s youth system, and in 2014, at 18, he moved from Rapid’s second team to Real Madrid, where he played in the U19 and the reserve team and regularly trained with professionals such as Sergio Ramos and Pepe, while often facing Cristiano Ronaldo.
In 2017 he moved to Freiburg, debuted in October 2017 under Marcel Koller at the age of 21, and has since been the first coach of Rangnick, the third manager of the “Blondhead”, who always plans with him.
He is a kind of hybrid of both: he does not have the athleticism of a Danso, but also not the playing class of an Alaba, yet he fulfills everything a centre‑back at a high level must be able to do, and has for years demonstrated in the German Bundesliga and the national team his strength in duels, his very good positioning and his clean build‑up play.
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In the current year he played for the national team alongside six different centre‑backs and emphasizes that he has already played a relatively large number of games with each; he can practically get along with any backup.
“Lieni is an extremely valuable player, reliability in person,” Rangnick told KURIER. Lienhart himself describes himself as a rather calm type, who is glad to be able to concentrate on playing football, while on the pitch he can now become louder.
He has taken part in the final stages of Euro 2021, Euro 2024 and World Cup 2026, having started twice in the XI this year, and is aiming for a fourth or fifth major tournament; at 30 he is still in his prime.
After the departure of Arnautovic, the current absence of Alaba and Marcel Sabitzer’s break until the end of the year, Lienhart is among the most experienced players in the Austrian FA squad, but does not push to the front row in front of the microphones.
In 2023 he extended his contract with SC Freiburg, the length of which is kept secret to give the club an advantage in negotiations with other clubs; Lienhart stresses that he adheres to it.
Philipp Lienhart is simply reliable – not only for Rangnick, but for the whole Austrian national team.