Nick Ames was at the Leipzig Stadium tonight, the lucky old devil. His report is in, and here it is. Congratulations to Turkey, commiserations to Austria, thanks to them both for bringing so much to Euro 2024, and thanks to you for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Aw man! I’m a bit sad that had to end. That was fun.
Post-classic postbag. “What a game. This tournament has been brought to life. I feel another 30 minutes tonight would’ve been fitting” – Billy Graboso
“What a match! Congrats to both sides but Gunok brought out his inner Gordon Banks to take his side through. That was a spectacular save that should go into the history books alongside Banks’ goalkeeping miracle” – Colum Fordham
“The Icelandic commentators pointed out that Merih Demiral had been scapegoated for the 6-1 defeat to Austria, and left out of the team for a bit afterwards. What a redemption story!” – Kári Tulinius
“Definitely the very best game of the tournament so far” – Nora Mulcahy
“The ref gets some credit too. I think his sensible decision-making contributed to that match” – Robert Speed
“Again, another excellent performance from a referee in this tournament. He got the spirit of that game, let it flow, but pulled it up for the cynical challenges. Really contributed to the spectacle. The officiating in Euro 2024 has been really good” – Martin Gamage
That match danced into life from the get-go, and the two teams never let up. Turkey were the better side in the first half, Austria strangely subdued (relatively speaking) despite looking dangerous in the opening exchanges. How Christoph Baumgartner failed to score from a couple of yards will remain a mystery for the ages. But Arda Güler had already reduced Austria’s defence to a panicked mess with the first corner of the game, and he and Merih Demiral combined again to double Turkey’s lead in the second period. Michael Gregoritsch halved the deficit, Austria piled forward, Turkey clung on, and Baumgartner was finally denied again, during the last few seconds, by Mert Günok’s world-class reaction save. Poor Austria, who have contributed so much to Euro 2024. Somewhere in the multiverse, Baumgartner has scored twice and they’re through; nobody could complain. But nobody can complain about this either, the brilliant young Turks playing some swashbuckling stuff while showing they can dig in at the back when they need to as well. Turkey are deserved winners, and the Netherlands won’t fancy playing them in Berlin on Saturday at all. Potential winners? Why not?
FULL TIME: Austria 1-2 Turkey
Pentz comes up for the corner, but Turkey clear it! They’ve held on, thanks to Mert Günok’s last-ditch wonder save! That was an epic battle, the best match of the tournament by some distance. A fully deserved victory for Turkey, though Austria gave it their all too, contributing to a copper-bottomed classic. What a match!
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90 min +5: What a save! A desperate cross looped into the Turkish box from the left by Prass. Baumgartner rises highest, six yards out, on his own. He sends a downward header across Günok and up towards the top left. He’s surely scored … but the keeper somehow claws it out, Gordon Banks style! Corner.
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90 min +4: Kadıoğlu breaks upfield, then sends Yılmaz clear on goal! He shoots for the bottom right, but Pentz makes a save that keeps Austria alive. Just!
90 min +3: Sabitzer tries to bustle into space down the middle but is forced off the ball by sheer numbers. Turkey clear again.
90 min +2: Bardakcı goes down with cramp again. He gets up quickly enough, though, not wanting to gift Austria more additional time.
90 min +1: A cross in from the left by Wöber. Gregoritsch’s header, six yards out, nearly drops to Posch, but Yokuşlu hacks clear just in time. The thin margins!
90 min: Austria have four additional minutes to save themselves; Turkey four to hang on.
89 min: Yılmaz barges into the Austrian box down the right and lashes a wild shot over the bar while aiming for the top-right corner. He holds his head in his hands, as well he might, with Yokuşlu and Kadıoğlu arriving behind him, waiting for the pull-back for the tap-in.
88 min: Austria soak up more pressure, then suddenly break three on two. Aktürkoğlu sprays a pass down the right for Yılmaz, who nearly latches onto the pass, but Pentz slides out to hack clear just in time.
86 min: Posch has been everywhere during this second half, and here he is winning another corner down the right. Sabitzer sends it in for Baumgartner, who can’t keep his header down. Another goal kick.
84 min: This is attack versus defence. Posch crosses from the right. Baumgartner competes for a header in the middle. Gunok and Demiral do enough to put him off. Goal kick.
83 min: Orkun Kökçü pulls up and is replaced by İrfan Can Kahveci. Bardakcı needs some treatment for cramp as well. Turkey to a man putting in the mother, father and extended family of A Shift.
81 min: Austria continue to probe. A ball whipped in by Sabitzer from the right. Baumgartner can’t convert at the far post, Ayhan doing just enough to put him off, the ball deflecting wide left. So close.
80 min: “Can we all agree that we need extra time here?” asks Espen B. “Games like this doesn’t come around very often.” Well, I’m in. Austria are doing their level best. Turkey can’t get out.
79 min: Nothing comes of the corner.
78 min: Before the corner can be taken, Arda Güler and Kenan Yıldız are replaced by Okay Yokuşlu and Kerem Aktürkoğlu … and poor Sabitzer, waiting to take the set piece, is struck by a cup or a coin or some other projectile. A couple of Turkish players go over to their fans and ask them to desist.
77 min: Turkey are getting a little sloppy as Austria press forward. Kadıoğlu’s loose pass leads to a throw that leads to Arnautović forcing a corner on the right.
75 min: Grillitsch has a belt from 25 yards. Straight at Günok, who handles well in the heavy rain. Turkey are inviting pressure on themselves a bit here.
73 min: A cross comes into the Turkish box from the left. Gregoritsch eyebrows it towards Arnautović, who thinks about launching into an overhead kick but then thinks twice. Austria come again, Prass winning a corner with another cross from the left, but Gunok punches the set piece clear.
71 min: It’s tipping down in Leipzig now. What an atmosphere, in more ways than one. “That Austrian goal there very like Solskjaer v Bayern Munich,” observes Colm O’Connor, “except the ball bounced here.”
69 min: Gregoritsch has made a difference all right. Now he gets on the end of a long punt into the Turkish box, but can only steer his header straight at the keeper.
68 min: Not sure whether Sabitzer, having taken that corner, turned to cup his ear at the Turkish fans. But he was copping for as many drinking vessels as Güler did before Turkey’s second, so he’d have been within his rights.
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GOAL! Austria 1-2 Turkey (Gregoritsch 66)
Austria set about clearing their heads with some calm possession football in the middle of the park. Then a ball sent down the right comes off Kadıoğlu. Sabitzer sends the corner in. Posch flicks a header on, then Gregoritsch, free at the far stick, roofs from a couple of yards! Game on!
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65 min: Austria make a double change. Off go Philipp Lienhart and Konrad Laimer, on come Maximilian Wöber and Michael Gregoritsch.
64 min: Austria had come right back into the game, but now they’ve lost their shape and their heads. They’re all over the shop right now. They need to get it together fast. The Turkish fans, as you’d expect, are giving it plenty.
62 min: Baumgartner tries to release Posch down the inside-right channel but overcooks the pass. Gunok claims. The ball was on.
60 min: A pause before the restart, so many cups having been thrown at Güler before he took that corner. Güler celebrated that goal by turning to the Austrian fans and, yes, cupping his ear. The simple retorts are sometimes the best.
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GOAL! Austria 0-2 Turkey (Demiral 59)
Yılmaz wins a corner down the right. Before Güler can take it, he’s pelted by cups. It doesn’t faze him. He whips fiercely towards the near post. Demiral flashes a header past Pentz, and the pair have done for Austria again!
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58 min: Salih Özcan comes on for İsmail Yüksek.
57 min: Kadıoğlu breezes down the left and enters the box, a fine run that’s ended with a witless blooter straight at Danso. Turkey show in attack for the first time since the break.
56 min: Gregoritsch shovels a pass down the right to release Arnautović, who reaches the edge of the box before floating a poor chip across Gunok and wide left. Turns out he was a mile offside anyway, which probably explains the slightly half-hearted nature of the chip.
55 min: It’s raining in Leipzig, by the way. On a greasy pitch, a fast game can only get even faster. And here comes the increasingly influential Posch, who chests down a loose clearance on the edge of the box, strides in from the right, and takes a whack. It’s deflected out for a corner that comes to nothing. Austria are giving the Turkish door a good old rap.
53 min: Laimer hip-shakes his way down the middle, reaches the edge of the box, then curls his shot wide left. The run deserved a better finish. Austria are asking some serious questions for the first time this evening.
52 min: Guler is downed by Lienhart, a crude bodycheck that earns the Austrian a booking.
51 min: Posch slips a clever little defence-splitter down the middle to release Arnautović, whose first-time shot is well blocked by Gunok. Great save. Austria are more obviously on it since the restart.
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50 min: Arnautović spins and sprays a cute diagonal pass down the right for Posch, who crosses long. Gregoritsch can’t get his header on target, but this is a good response from Austria, who have clearly been given the what-for by Ralf Rangnick during the break.
49 min: Now it’s the other sub’s turn to cause trouble out wide. Prass presses down the left and runs the ball out of play, a poor end to what initially looked like a promising run.
47 min: There nearly was a quickfire goal, though, as Gregoritsch immediately piles down the right after a long ball and hooks back from the byline for Baumgartner, who pokes wide right from eight yards. The flag eventually goes up, though, Gregoritsch having not quite kept the ball in play. Goal kick.
45 min 58 sec: A slow start to the second half in comparison to the first. No goals yet.
Turkey get the second half underway. No changes for them, but Austria replace Phillipp Mwene and Romano Schmid with Alexander Prass and Michael Gregoritsch. Meanwhile here’s Kári Tulinius: “Given that Turkey played in the group stage with the calm of someone rushing home after realising they’d left the oven on several hours ago, and Austria played like a house on fire, I didn’t expect this match to get to halftime with the Turks looking comfortable defending a one-goal lead.”
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Austria 0-1 Turkey
There’s just enough time for Posch to power down the right and whistle a low cross towards Baumgartner, who pokes wide right from six yards. Chance. The last one of a first half that fair flew by. More please!
45 min: … and then he clatters into Yilmaz on the Turkey right. Mwene’s fortunate not to go into the book for that, especially as he’s another player one booking away from suspension.
44 min: Mwene attempts to bring down a long ball while racing up the left touchline. He ends up sailing across the turf on the old nipples, the ball sailing out for a goal kick. That just about sums up the first half for Austria.
42 min: Yüksek will miss the quarter final if Turkey get there, having shoved over Baumgartner from behind in the midfield.
41 min: Güler shapes to meet a left-wing cross with a bicycle kick from the edge of the box. The ball’s diverted away from him just in time by an Austrian leg. Shame, and now we’ll never know.
39 min: Schmid is booked for some rugby-infused cynicism on Kadıoğlu. He was one of the few players on the pitch not facing suspension if booked tonight. He is now, though.
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38 min: A passage of play during which neither team can hold onto the ball for more than half a nanosecond. It’s nonetheless still very entertaining. It ends with a long throw flung into the Turkish box. Müldür slices it high into the air but Günok leaps to claim.
36 min: Sabitzer makes good ground down the left but his cross, aimed for Arnautović, is easily whipped clear by Demiral.
35 min: Austria will at least be thankful that Turkey haven’t launched an attack for the best part of ten minutes.
33 min: Sabitzer drifts in from the left and isn’t closed down. The invitation to shoot is accepted. The shot deflects off a defender and high into the sky. Nothing’s quite coming off for Austria at the moment.
31 min: Austria mix it up with a couple of longer balls, but neither Arnautović nor Baumgartner can get on the end of them.
29 min: Kadıoğlu’s sheer persistence draws a foul from Schmid on the left flank. Turkey decide against launching the free kick into the mixer, but it’s an example of their ability to fluster Austria into making mistakes. Austria, who play at 101mph themselves, are struggling to keep up with Turkey’s relentless pace.
27 min: Arnautović grooves down the left and cuts infield, nearly finding Schmid with a clever diagonal pass into the box. Günok comes off his line to smother just before Schmid can connect.
26 min: Yılmaz embarks on a sensational power run down the right, one that includes a dummy on Lienhart. Shame his cross towards Yildiz, unmarked on the spot, is no good. Turkey are such an entertaining watch.
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25 min: One Guler corner leads to another, and Demiral crashes a header off target from six yards. It was a great chance for his and Turkey’s second.
24 min: Guler’s delivery isn’t so great this time, but the ball’s worked out to Müldür on the right. Müldür skulls a cross that pings off Baumgartner for a corner.
23 min: Turkey pick up the pace again, and Posch ends up clattering Yıldız out on the left flank. Turkey load the box. Guler prepares to swing another dangerous set piece into the mixer.
21 min: This match is glorious nonsense, and so much fun … so having just typed that out, Turkey go against type and slow it down with some passing around the back.
19 min: Baumgartner nearly sashays into the Turkish box down the middle. He’s crowded out, then Guler dribbles away on the counter at speed. He spots Pentz miles off his line and decides to go for it from inside his own half. Blooter! The ball sails wide right.
17 min: Schmid crosses from a pocket of space on the right. Demiral clears under pressure from Arnautović. Despite all the whooping and hollering, and that early hammer blow, Austria are stroking it around nicely.
16 min: A cacophony of boos whenever Austria have possession. It can’t help.
14 min: Guler wriggles into the box down the right and reaches the byline. He attempts to cut back into the six-yard box, but Danso comes across to intercept, albeit nervously, at the near post before ballooning clear. “That ball rolling across the Turkish goal line then had an xG of about 12!” observes Adam Kent Ibanez, not wholly inaccurately.
12 min: Sabitzer hits the free kick straight into the wall, but the ball deflects wide right for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece.
11 min: Baumgartner spins into a little space and drives down the middle. Kökçü slides in from behind. A free kick and a booking that means Kökçü will miss the quarter-final should Turkey make it.
10 min: Austria attempt to settle things down with some patient possession in the middle of the park. Do you think they succeed? This is beyond hectic. This is great!
8 min: Mwene, understandably nervous after Austria’s horror start, kicks the ball against his own leg and out for a throw. A fair bet this isn’t going to end 0-1.
7 min: VAR says no. The corner’s then swung in from the right. Lienhart, rising higest but leaning back, sends his header over the bar. This is breathless. This is tournament football!
5 min: Schmid whips the corner in low from the left. The ball sails straight through the six-yard box. Günok misses it. Baumgartner tries to force it home at the far post, a yard out, but under pressure from Demiral can’t convert. The ball squirts out off Demiral for a corner. Before it can be taken, there’s a VAR check for a penalty. Did Demiral kick his man?
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4 min: Austria attack again, Laimer and Sabitzer nearly opening Turkey up down the left. Not quite. But they come again and win a corner down the same flank. We thought these teams would go at it hard. But not this hard!
2 min 14 sec: Baumgartner nearly equalises immediately with a fierce daisycutter from 25 yards that beats Günok all ends up and whistles inches past the left-hand post! This is an astonishing start to the game!
GOAL! Austria 0-1 Turkey (Demiral 57 sec)
The corner swung in from the right by Guler. Viciously so, forcing Baumgartner to block on the line. The ball pings off Posch and back towards the net. Pentz scoops it off the line, but Demiral is on hand to roof from close range! What a start!
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10 sec: Austria flood forward en masse. Baumgartner nearly releases Sabitzer into the Turkish box down the inside-left channel. Not quite. Then Yılmaz goes up the other end and wins a corner down the right. From which…
Austria get the ball rolling. The last remaining place in the quarters is up for grabs!
The teams are out! The Österreichische Fußballnationalmannschaft wear first-choice red shirts and black shorts, while the Türkiye Millî Futbol Takımı sport their favoured white kit. And yes I am about to revert to official Guardian style now. Austria prepare to sing their paean to a land of peaks, rivers, fields and steeples, while Turkey clear their throats in order to hail their crimson flag, nation’s star, and coy crescent. The Zentralstadion in Leipzig is bouncing, with the beautiful noise you come to expect when Turkey’s fans are in town. We’ll be off in a few minutes, once coins have been tossed, pennants exchanged and fists bumped.
A reminder of how both teams made it to this point. Truth be told, more often than not, group matches aren’t really worth reliving. These two were great fun, though.
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The winner of this tie will play the Netherlands in a Berlin quarter-final on Saturday evening. Austria wouldn’t mind meeting the Dutch again so soon after last week’s 3-2 win; Ronald Koeman’s side would relish the chance to immediately right some wrongs. Exactly what to expect should Türkiye get through requires another level of imagination altogether: Türkiye and the Netherlands met twice in World Cup qualifying in 2021, the former winning 4-2 at home, the latter winning the reverse fixture 6-1. Good luck calling that, if we have to. Whoever goes through tonight, it could set up a doozy.
Austria make four changes to the XI that started the 3-2 win over the Netherlands. Kevin Danso, Phillipp Mwene, Christoph Baumgartner and Konrad Laimer are in; Maximilian Wöber, Alexander Prass and Florian Grillitsch drop to the bench, while Patrick Wimmer is suspended.
Türkiye make three changes to their starting line-up in the wake of their 2-1 victory over Czechia. Orkun Kökçü, Abdülkerim Bardakcı and Kaan Ayhan are in; Salih Özcan drops to the bench while both Samet Akaydin and captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu are suspended.
The teams
Austria: Pentz, Posch, Danso, Lienhart, Mwene, Seiwald, Schmid, Baumgartner, Laimer, Sabitzer, Arnautovic.
Subs: Lindner, Wober, Prass, Grillitsch, Gregoritsch, Hedl, Querfeld, Kainz, Daniliuc, Seidl, Weimann, Entrup, Grull.
Türkiye: Gunok, Muldur, Demiral, Bardakci, Kadioglu, Ayhan, Yuksek, Guler, Kokcu, Yildiz, Yilmaz.
Subs: Celik, Yokuslu, Akturkoglu, Tosun, Yazici, Bayindir, Kaplan, Ozcan, Kahveci, Cakir, Kilicsoy, Akgun, Yildirim.
Referee: Artur Soares Dias (Portugal).
💥 Unsere Startelf für das Achtelfinale! Pack mas! 🇦🇹🇹🇷 #gEMma #GemeinsamÖSTERREICH pic.twitter.com/e1qwiaQrtj
— ÖFB - oefb.at (@oefb1904) July 2, 2024
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Preamble
It’s Euro 2024’s big dark-horse showdown, between two sides harbouring genuine hopes of pulling off a Denmark-like or Greece-esque shock victory. Both countries have delivered rip-roaring entertainment: high-octane Austria looking more than any other like an actual team, Türkiye second to none in bringing equal quantities of visceral brilliance and The Noise. Could either of these teams go on to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy next weekend? Sure, why not? Especially given the way the draw’s panned out.
Austria will perhaps be heading into this showdown with more confidence, on account of the 6-1 thrashing they dealt Türkiye just over three months ago in Vienna. But that was then, this is now, football doesn’t always follow logic like that, and while Austria have been putting on an expansive show, Türkiye have been lashing them in from all angles as well. A realistic route to the final has opened up for these two teams, and so this is teed up deliciously. Good luck, everyone, may the best team win, this could be a whole world of fun. Kick-off in Leipzig is at 8pm BST. It’s on!
