(Leipzig) Turkey, thanks to a double from its defender Merih Demiral, upset the odds by beating Austria (2-1) on Tuesday in the round of 16 of Euro-2024 in Leipzig and will challenge the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
The Turks had not reached the quarter-finals of a Euro since 2008.
Turkey’s Italian coach Vincenzo Montella had assured that his players would not play with a desire for “revenge” after the 6-1 thrashing they received from Austria in a friendly in March.
And yet, they played with extra soul on Tuesday to surprise one of the most attractive teams at the start of the tournament, who had finished first ahead of France in Group D.
It was a story of corners in a very intense match with many duels in midfield and two teams running from one end of the pitch to the other without counting.
Austria suffered a blow to the head in the first minute: Baris Yilmaz managed to win a corner and Arda Güler, the 19-year-old Real Madrid star, took it upon himself to shoot it from very close to goal.
The Austrian defence fumbled when trying to clear the ball and the ball fell to Merih Demiral. The defender torpedoed it from close range into the net, and the Turkish fans cracked their first smoke bomb of the evening for one of the quickest goals in a Euro (57 seconds).
PHOTO MARTIN MEISSNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Merih Demiral
For Austria, who had won 14 of their last 19 games and were looking to reach their first quarter-finals at a Euro, the situation was unusual.
Backwards
Ralf Rangnick’s men threw themselves into the battle to equalise as quickly as possible. They could have achieved it a few moments later, from a very similar corner, but the ball flew over the goal line, taunting Christoph Baumgartner.
But the Austrians were unable to create any other big chances, due to the Turks being very attentive and fired up.
After half-time, the Austrians increased the pressure, this time winning the majority of the duels. They created much more dangerous chances than in the first half, including a duel between Marko Arnautovic and goalkeeper Mert Günok (51) and a dribble by Laimer followed by a shot that was too soft (53).
And then the Turks took the Austrians by surprise a second time. On a corner there too, struck by an Arda Güler who was decidedly very inspired in this exercise, and who placed it on the head of Merih Demiral (59)… You don’t change a winning formula.
The Austrians had the merit of reducing the score very quickly… again from a corner. Having come on a few moments earlier, Michael Gregoritsch did not hesitate to send the ball to the right place (66), reminding the Turks of his good memories, against whom he had scored a hat-trick during the famous friendly match in March.
The tension among the Turkish fans, who began to hold their heads in their hands a lot, rose a notch. Austria pushed and pushed, but was clumsy, and the Turkish defense was heroic. In particular, goalkeeper Mert Günok pushed away a header from point-blank range by Baumgartner in the last minute, a gesture of immense class worthy of the “save of the century” made by the Englishman Gordon Banks on a header by Pelé at the 1970 World Cup.