In the round of 16 match at Euro 2024, Turkiye defeated Austria 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals.
Defender Merih Demiral scored a historic goal in the 57th minute to put his team 1-0 up, but it was Meri Demiral who restored the score to 2-0 in the 59th minute. Austria made it 2-1 in the 66th minute with a goal from Michael Gregoritsch, but a superb performance from their defence and goalkeeper Mert Gunok helped them maintain their advantage in the final minutes.
After their 2-1 win over Austria, Turkiye will face the Netherlands in the quarter-finals in Berlin. Our national team continues to make history in the tournament and the final will be held in Berlin…
Merih Demidral at 57 seconds
Our national team started the match very well. Before the first minute had even finished, we won a corner kick and took a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from Merih Demiral.
Arda Güler threw the ball behind the defense and Barış Alper Yılmaz reacted, but the ball went for a corner. The Austrian defense was unable to clear the corner kick taken by Arda Güler. After six passes, Merih Demiral found the ball in front of him and fired a powerful shot into the goal.
Meri Demiral’s goal after 57 seconds was the second-fastest goal in the history of the European Championships and the fastest goal by a national team in the history of the tournament.
Previously, the earliest goal recorded was Burak Yilmaz’s goal in the 10th minute against Czech Republic at EURO 2016.
Austria closes in on goal
Austria stepped up the pressure to draw the tie straight away and came close to scoring in the fifth minute when Romano Schmidt’s corner kick from the left wing was untouched by anyone at the front post and Baumgartner wanted to pass the ball past goalkeeper Mert Gunok at the back post, but Meri Demiral kept his man down and denied him the goal.
With just a few minutes left in the first half, our team showed some compact defence and went into the break with a 1-0 lead without any goals in danger.
Critical save from Melt Gnoc
Austria began the second half looking to equalise and came close in the 51st minute.
Austrian striker Marko Arnautovic received the ball after Stefan Posch had put it in behind the defence, but the experienced striker was unable to get past goalkeeper Mert Gunok in the opposing position.
Mel scores again, another goal!
After Barş Alper won a corner kick, Merih Demiral scored again for the national team.
After receiving Arda Güler’s cross inside the penalty area, Merih Demiral rose high at the front post to score his and his country’s second goal and make the score 2-0.
This time Austria scores from a corner
Austria responded with two goals from Merih Demiral off corner kicks and one from a corner kick.
In the 66th minute, Posh headed in a corner kick from the right wing, and Gregoritsch, who was left in an open position at the back post, took one touch to smash the ball into the goal, making the score 2-1.
We resisted the pressure
Even after an Austrian goal cut the deficit to one, their opponents continued to press for a draw.
In the 78th minute of the match, Kerem Aktırkol and Okay Yokuşul came on for Arda Güler and Kenan Yıldız. Despite some dangerous moments in front of the goal against Austria’s high pressure, Turkey managed to hold on to the goal and won 2-1 to advance to the quarterfinals.
