Austria coach Ralf Rangnick has shrugged off his role in a crisis point at AC Milan last year.

Rangnick was contacted by Milan chief exec Ivan Gazidis without the knowledge of football directors Paolo Maldini and Zvonimir Boban. Gazidis had wanted to replace Stefano Pioli with the German.

The controversy was called out by Boban, who was eventually sacked by Gazidis for his protests.

Ahead of Italy meeting Austria, Rangnick conceded Pioli has since proved Gazidis wrong: “Milan won the Scudetto, have progressed in the Champions League and worked really well over the last two or three years.

“We have players in the squad who are in Serie A, like Stefan Posch and Marko Arnautovic at Bologna. We watch Serie A games, it is a very important league. Napoli have been spectacular so far."

On facing Italy, he added: “We will try to be as good as possible and we want to win.

“There have been a few changes in the Italy squad, as the side that won the Euros had far more experience, whereas tomorrow it'll be largely much younger players. They are opening up to the next generation, but will still be tactically disciplined and we can't wait to take on strong opponents.

“Sometimes the Azzurri start with three at the back, sometimes four, so I am not surprised by the change to this system. We just need to figure out tomorrow if they are playing with one or two strikers."