Demiral put paid to Austria’s dream of reaching the quarter-finals of the European Championship for the first time in its history from two corners. Rangnick’s team, innovative in terms of collectivism and daring, came up against the determination of Turkey, blessed by luck in the first goal and saved by a monumental save from Mert Günok, the Besiktas goalkeeper, who turned aside Baumgartner’s tremendous header in the 94th minute with a feline reaction. It has already been proven that injury time causes chaos in the penalty area and it is easier to score goals. Günok prevented this and the Turks will face the Netherlands next Saturday in Berlin.
1
Patrick Pentz, Stefan Posch, Philipp Lienhart (Max Wöber, min. 63), Kevin Danso, Phillipp Mwene (Alexander Prass, min. 45), Romano Schmid (Michael Gregoritsch, min. 45), Nicolas Seiwald, Marcel Sabitzer, Konrad Laimer (Florian Grillitsch, min. 63), Christoph Baumgartner and Marko Arnautovic
2
Mert Günok, Merih Demiral, Abdülkerim Bardakci, Kaan Ayhan, Ismail Yüksek (Salih Özcan, min. 57), Orkun Kökçü (Irfan Can Kahveci, min. 82), Ferdi Kadioglu, Mert Müldür, Baris Alper Yilmaz, Kenan Yildiz (Okay Yokuslu, min. 77) and Arda Güler (Kerem Aktürkoglu, min. 77)
Goals
0-1 min. 0: Demiral. 0-2 min. 58: Demiral. 1-2 min. 65: Gregoritsch
Referee Artur Manuel Ribeiro Soares Dias
Yellow cards
Orkun Kokcu (min. 10), Romano Schmid (min. 37), Ismail Yüksek (min. 41), Lienhart (min. 51)
The Leipzig stadium was transformed into a Turkish island. The three million German citizens of Turkish origin made themselves felt like a vociferous wave of support for the second most supported team in Germany. The atmosphere altered the heartbeats of the players. The first minute contained an entire match. Twenty seconds in, Baumgartner left Sabitzer alone in front of Günok. Günok anticipated with a premonitory move. He took a goal kick. The play ended in a corner, and Arda Güler’s shot on Baugartner’s clearance, the rebound off Posch, Pentz’s desperate clearance, and Demiral’s goal. The Al-Ahli centre-back finished from point-blank range. One minute had passed and the match offered a gift to Turkey.
The encouragement of their fans and the goal in their favour boosted the morale of the Turks with an injection of adrenaline. The cocktail of confidence and emotion improved them. They were successful in their controls, in their rhythm, in their pauses. They made good decisions. They closed well. They happily put pressure on their overwhelmed opponents. Coming first in Group D ahead of France and Holland did not sit well with the Austrians. Something stirred in the conscience of these footballers. The need to confirm their success, perhaps the complacency of thinking themselves superior, could have disturbed the team. Sabitzer sent out strange signals when he showed up on the field with a braided hairstyle that must have taken up hours of his free time. Did he need it? He thought so. What awaited him was not the ceremony of passage to the quarter-finals but a day full of problems. The match showed that what he really needed was not a new label but a little more lucidity. His bad night reflected Austria’s suffering.
Turkey managed their lead with unusual seriousness. Rangnick, who had left Grillitsch on the bench from the start, who had been phenomenal against the Netherlands, changed his line-up after the break. Prass and Gregoritsch came on and by increasing their pressure the Austrians managed to position themselves better, get into the game and break down the Turkish defence by advancing in one touch down the centre lanes. Austria had regained the initiative when, after another counter-attack and another corner, Demiral scored again with a header. His leap, a metre over the handsome Lienhart, got the whole Montella bench in a celebration that foreshadowed their qualification.
Gregoritsch’s goal, another header from another corner, ignited the final stretch of a match that was thunderous in the stands and tough on the pitch, but never violent. The Austrians only lacked the drive, the determination, the will to try to come back. They were academic but rarely dazzling. They lost their security and precision in the first minute.
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