Austria, Germany score two of fastest international goals

Austria's Christoph Baumgartner 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's Florian Wirtz.

Baumgartner, 24, went into the record books during a friendly match in Bratislava.

The Leipzig attacker drove through the home defence from kick-off before unleashing a 25-metre shot past Martin Dubravka in goal.

"We've done this variation before, sprinting from kick-off at full risk. The sequence of steps somehow worked out so that I made the run," Baumgartner told Austrian public broadcaster ORF after the game which his team won 2-0.

"Of course it's really cool, I'm very happy. The fact that I hit it like that... it's of course sensational."

Baumgartner's strike matched the seven seconds it took Lukas Podolski to score for Germany against Ecuador in May, 2013.

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Football

The Austrian FA described Baumgartner's effort as the fastest goal in the history of international football.

"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, Wirtz was just as fast against France in a friendly in Lyon.

The Leverkusen player beat 'keeper Brice Samba with a superb shot under the crossbar.

The fastest goal scored in a World Cup was by Turkey's Hakan Sukur against South Korea in 2002 after 11 seconds.