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 against Slovakia in Bratislava. The Leipzig attacker drove through the home defence from kick-off, drifting past three players, 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.” He added: “I’m especially pleased that I was able to help the team. That’s the most important thing about the goal.” Baumgartner’s strike matched the previous record of seven seconds it took Lukas Podolski to score for Germany against Ecuador in May, 2013. The Austrian FA described Baumgartner’s effort as the fastest goal in the history of international football.