Alaba rescues Austria, Ribéry out of luck

David Alaba was Austria's hero with a stoppage-time equaliser to salvage a 2-2 draw for his country away to Ireland in Dublin on Tuesday night, moving the Austrians up to second in World Cup qualifying Group C on eight points, eight behind leaders Germany.

Until Alaba's last-gasp strike, Ireland's Jonathan Walters appeared to have settled the issue in the Dublin Arena after firing a brace on 25 and 45 minutes. VfB Stuttgart striker Martin Harnik, one of five Bundesliga players in the Austrian line-up, had opened the scoring after 11 minutes.

Narrow defeat for Ribéry and France

It was a less satisfactory evening for Franck Ribéry and France, as Les Bleus fell at home to world and European champions Spain by the only goal of the game in Paris. Barcelona's Pedro netted what proved to be the winner just short of the hour, although Ribéry had chances either side of half-time which narrowly failed to go in. The win means Spain leapfrog the French and take the lead in Group I.