18.11.2018 20:57 h

Austria beat Northern Ireland in Nations League 'fight'

Valentino Lazaro scored an injury-time winner as Austria beat Northern Ireland 2-1 on Sunday in a Nations League dead rubber in Belfast that Marko Arnautovic described as a "fight".

Northern Ireland had already been relegated from Group B3, while Austria were guaranteed to finish second.

Michael O'Neill's hosts wasted a number of first-half chances at Windsor Park and were made to pay in the 49th minute when Xaver Schlager swept the Austrians ahead.

Corry Evans' deflected strike drew the Northern Irish level just eight minutes later.

But Hertha Berlin winger Lazaro finished off a blistering counter-attack with a magnificent curling shot into the top corner after being picked out by West Ham forward Arnautovic.

"We can be proud of the win. We wanted to come here, to finish well with a win and we did that," Arnautovic told Sky Sports.

"He (Northern Ireland centre-back Gareth McAuley) tried to choke me, he tried to fight with me, I don't know why. It is not good to fight with me."

Elsewhere, Belarus edged to a 2-0 win over San Marino to wrap up promotion from Group D2, ending Luxembourg and Moldova's slim hopes as they played out a 1-1 draw in Chisinau.