Turkey advanced to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 after beating Austria 2-1 in an absolutely epic match that will undoubtedly be one of the most memorable in this competition. It was a match that started in a very intense manner, with a very high tempo from both teams, to the point that Merih Demiral made it 1-0 for Turkey from a corner kick with only a minute played. At exactly 57 seconds, it is in fact the 2nd fastest goal ever scored in the history of the UEFA Euro Championship.
After Turkey’s goal, Austria came close to an equaliser soon after but the intervention of Demiral – who also played a key role in this match by taking balls out of the box – prevented Baumgartner from getting a clear run, and the ball went inches past the post. From then on, Turkey went into defence for several minutes and the Austrians launched attack after attack until the physical strain began to take its toll, and after half an hour Turkey again resumed attacks, creating several scoring chances.
Austria was not playing comfortably, and it was obvious: not only did they fail to make their moves work and their pressing effective, but they were not getting away from the Turkish onslaught, too: the Central European team was pressing… But they were not playing the way they wanted to play; and when Turkey pressed on the counter, Austrians trembled every time the young Arda Güler received a ball near the box. It was certainly a first half in which, although the Austrians had their chances, Turkey imposed their conditions and their opponents had no choice but to play following their rules.
A second half under the rain
In the second half, which took place under an increasingly heavy rain, Austria brought on two more strikers (leaving four up front in total) to try to force their usual pressing game, and of course to try to come back from a game they were loosing. Thus the Austrians came out stronger, and immediately after the restart they launched several attacks on the Ottoman goal that made the Turks suffer. The changes introduced by Ralf Rangnick seemed to have an effect, and in just the first 7 minutes Austria had 4 clear chances to score.
Turkey was looking on the back foot, barely managing to keep the ball with it and with virtually no attacking chances. It was not until 11 minutes into the second half that the Turks managed to launch their first real dangerous attack on the opponent’s goal. Seeing how things were going, the Italian coach of the Turkish national team, Vincenzo Montella, made his first change to try to give the team more attacking power and, shortly afterwards, during a corner in the 59th minute taken by Güler, Demiral appeared again to rise above everyone else in the box to head, and make the 2-0, sparking euphoria among Turkish fans and players and leaving the Austrians stunned, still not understanding what had just happened.
Austria then made two more changes, and just seven minutes later, after a corner shot Gregoritsch struck almost alone in the six-yard box to make it 2-1 and bring his team back into the match. The goal came at just the right time, before the Central Europeans had been undone by Demiral’s second goal, and it put back pressure on Turkey, who from then on clearly went back to defend their result and withstand the strong Austrian pressure. After 77 minutes Turkey made two changes, withdrawing Güler and Yıldız and strengthening the midfield, making it clear that they were refusing to take any risks to extend their lead.
With 10 minutes to go, the Turkish area was the very Byzantine walls of Istanbul facing the Austrian siege: if only the Viennese could have imagined something like this in 1683… With a reinforced midfield, the Ottomans tried to stop the Austrian attacks there, but they kept coming, putting the Turks against the ropes in their own area. Even so, Turkey’s defensive strategy of closing in at the back – as we have become accustomed to from previous matches – repeatedly frustrated their opponents, who seemed to run out of ideas and lose steam. With 3 minutes to go before the 90-minute mark, Turkey pulled off a surprise attack and came out of their “wall” to launch two dangerous counter-attacks, although they failed to convert them into goals precisely because they didn’t risk too many players in these offensives.
4 minutes of extra time
The Portuguese referee added four minutes of extra time, and the Turks continued to hold on behind their bastion but also wanted to burn their last few minutes of extra time. Despite suffering tremendous physical exhaustion, Barış Yılmaz had the chance to make it 3-1 three minutes into extra time when he was left alone in front of Austrian goalkeeper Patrick Pentz, who made a last-ditch save. But it was undoubtedly Mert Günok’s epic save with just 20 seconds of injury time remaining that saved the game for Turkey.
Mert cleared for a corner, and even Pentz himself came up from the opposite goal, knowing that this was all the Austrians had left. But the Austrians, already short of strength and ideas and desperate to see time running out against them, were unable to score on this occasion either, and the referee almost immediately blew the final whistle as soon as the Turks had taken the ball out of the area.
There were emotional moments then, with tears on the faces of the Austrian players and exhausted but euphoric faces of the Turkish players. Thus ended a great football match, full of emotion, with which the Milli Takım for the 3rd time in its history – and for the first time since 2008 – gets into the quarter-finals of a UEFA Euro Championship. The next match will be against the Netherlands.
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As a history lover, Pablo Gómez was captivated by Turkey from the first day he visited it in 2006: he got married there, has a house there… and has since become an expert on Turkey’s current affairs. With a long experience in media, he has been at the helm of hispanatolia.com since 2011.
