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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Sport
Richard Forrester

Bristol City striker Weimann riding the wave after a crowning moment 10 years in the making

On one of the walls at Andi Weimann's house sit the framed match-worn shirts of the teams he has scored his first goal for.

Alongside the Bristol City shirt when he fired in on his club debut in a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest back in 2018, he has the colours of Aston Villa, Watford, Derby and Wolves. Until this summer, there was one shirt that continued to elude him.

City's number provided a welcome splash of red to the collection but the centrepiece is prepped for the Austrian national jersey which is waiting to be framed before it sits proudly alongside the others.

If last season's goalscoring tally wasn't already remarkable enough, his crowning moment came against world champions France in a Nations League match in June.

The 31-year-old had to wait 10 years after making his national debut for his moment to arrive, firing Konrad Laimer's cross from the right past Hugo Lloris. It was the Weimann we have become so accustomed to seeing.

A turn of pace and darting run into space left defender William Saliba on his toes and the forward made no mistake finishing first time from close range. The national stadium in his hometown of Vienna erupted with Weimann's family watching on from the stands.

Kylian Mbappe's equaliser meant Ralf Rangnick's Austria were forced to settle for a point but it was a moment Weimann never thought would arrive after his seven-year exile from the national team.

"When it hit the net the feeling was amazing, Weimann said. "It was in Vienna where I was born and my whole family was there. 50,000 in the stadium and it was sold out so I couldn't have wished for a better place or team to score my first international goal.

"I've had a few nice messages from people around the world and I was just happy to get my first goal and it just topped that season off for me, to be honest.

"I didn't think I was going to get back into the national team. I was away for seven years before I got the call and even when I got the call in March it was only because a few players were injured. But if I didn't get back in last season I would never have gotten back in.

Andi Weimann celebrates scoring for Austria (JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

"The goals I scored last season were the best of my career and I was hoping to get back in. Now we have a new manager and three out of the four games I started so hopefully, I can just carry that on.

"From all the clubs I've played for I've always got the first shirt I scored my first goal in so I need to get that one framed. They are in the house on my wall so I've got Villa, Wolves, Derby, Bristol City and now an Austria one."

Weimann had just ten days off over the summer before returning to Bristol City's pre-season training camp in his home country. If last season's 22-goal tally raised the expectations on his shoulders this season, Weimann is happily continuing to ride the wave of his success after scoring in his opening two matches.

Two defeats have taken the gloss off but Weimann is ready to kick-start City's campaign in the cup against Coventry this evening and put the losses behind them. He added: "I think at the minute I feel really good, I feel really fit. I'm still kind of on that wave from last season.

"I feel really confident and I'll get a chance every time I step onto the pitch and score a goal every time I play so hopefully that carries on as long as possible.

"Obviously, we were very disappointed (against Sunderland) because we turned it around to get 2-1 and then conceded two minutes later. We know we made a couple of mistakes and it was too easy conceding some of the goals.

"We want to attack this season and be positive. So those two games we need to forget about them and the game tomorrow (today) we can kick-start the season and get some momentum and get a positive result. We've played two games and we've got 44 left.

"Just because we lost two games we need to stick to what we've worked on and we need to get that first win as soon as possible and hopefully go on a run."

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