After both nations were victorious on matchday one, this presented an opportunity to maintain their respective 100% Nations League records in their first-ever meeting.
Austria’s quest to return to League A at the second time of asking almost got off to a rocky start as Kosovo came close to opening the scoring after six minutes through Vedat Muriqi, but the Fenerbahce striker blazed over from inside the box.
The away side were made to pay for that missed opportunity as the hosts began to dominate and made it count in the 23rd minute.
Romano Schmid lined up a free-kick from 30 yards out, and instead of going for goal, he clipped a ball into the box for David Affengruber to head home.
Das Team continued to dominate and doubled their lead on the verge of half-time as Patrick Wimmer raced through on goal, and instead of going alone, squared for Junior Adamu to tap into an empty net.
Franco Foda turned to his bench ahead of the restart, making a triple change. The substitutes saw an uptick in performance as Muriqi twice went close to pulling a goal back minutes into the second half but was denied by Christian Zawieschitzky before his rebounded effort was cleared off the line.
The Kosovans were made to rue those missed opportunities as Austria put the game to bed on the hour mark. Arijanet flapped Paul Wanner’s low ball into the six-yard box, which allowed Carney Chukwuemeka to fire home.
The Kosovan stopper was then substituted for an injury caused in the melee of the goal, making his evening even worse.
Ralf Rangnick’s men hardly got out of second gear for much of the contest and were perhaps made to pay as Kosovo pulled a goal back from the penalty spot with a little under 10 minutes to go.
Edon Zhegrova dispatched the spot-kick after Affengruber was penalised for a foul in the box, but despite pulling a goal back, Kosovo will be left disappointed.
Their run of consecutive victories comes to an end, but they will have a chance for revenge in the reverse fixture next Sunday. Austria, meanwhile, are now unbeaten in 16 games at home (W13, D3).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Patrick Wimmer (Austria)