Austria v Turkey LIVE: Result and final score after miraculous late save seals Euro 2024 shock
Two goals by Merih Demiral ensured a surprise win for Turkey as Austria crashed out of Euro 2024
Turkey beat Austria 2-1 in a thrilling last-16 encounter to advance to a Euro 2024 quarter-final against the Netherlands.
Merih Demiral opened the scoring after less than a minute and netted again in the second half. Michael Gregoritsch was left free at the back post for Austria’s response after another corner in the 66th but neither team could add any more despite a flurry of chances in the rain.
It is the first time Turkey have reached the last eight of the competition since 2008.
Follow all the live arection from Austria v Turkey in the live blog below:
Trent Alexander-Arnold can dispel Gareth Southgate myth with obvious England change
The Trent Alexander-Arnold Experiment is dead. Time for another Trent Alexander-Arnold Experiment. Liverpool’s vice-captain seems a misunderstood, underused talent at international level.
His time in midfield spanned 123 minutes against Serbia and Denmark and was of sufficient importance, such a scientific voyage of discovery, that it assumed a status of its own. It was an ‘Experiment’.
That it has been deemed a failure was apparent when Gareth Southgate worked his way through a series of partners for Declan Rice against Slovakia – Kobbie Mainoo for craft, Conor Gallagher for graft, Jude Bellingham for overhead kicks – and no scenario called for Alexander-Arnold.
Alexander-Arnold can dispel Southgate myth with obvious England change
Gareth Southgate’s ‘experiment’ with Trent Alexander-Arnold did not work, but a more conventional role, Richard Jolly writes, could suit both the Liverpool star and offer England a solution to their lack of creativity in possession
Gareth Southgate says England have found their Paul Gascoigne moment at Euro 2024
Gareth Southgate believes Jude Bellingham’s goal against Slovakia can be a spark for England’s tournament, like Paul Gascoigne’s goal against Scotland at Euro 96, as he made a point of stating the legend of that tournament and the 1990 World Cup has made people forget performances were initially poor.
While Southgate accepted that his team have “got to be better”, he feels that the 95th-minute equaliser to eventually eliminate Slovakia showed a “togetherness” and “spirit” essential to any tournament.
The manager also believes it will “give the whole group belief”, just like Gascoigne in 1996. Southgate feels that will be essential against an “excellent” Switzerland team in the Euro 2024 quarter-final.
Gareth Southgate says England have found their Paul Gascoigne moment at Euro 2024
The manager suggested that fans often forget how poor England were en route to semi-finals at the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96
Alan Shearer insists England criticism ‘is not personal’
Alan Shearer insisted his criticism of Gareth Southgate’s England team at Euro 2024 “is not personal”.
The former England striker has described the Three Lions’ performance on the pitch as “awful” this tournament - despite the team making it to the quarter-finals.
Addressing the criticism during BBC’s Match of the Day on Monday (1 July), Shearer said: “I don’t ever have a problem with criticism, so long as you don’t get personal and I don’t think we have and I don’t think anyone has.
“Even the payers and manager say it’s not been good enough.”
Pre-match thoughts from Vincenzo Montella:
“We should not let our emotions get the better of us; we cannot be thinking about revenge [for the 6-1 friendly defeat in March].
“We know what Austria can do but we also know what we can do. We have scored five goals and have five different scorers. We haven’t scored a penalty, from a dead ball, or an own goal.
“We are doing a great job in terms of controlling the ball, but we have to turn this into more goals. Calmness is very important.”
Pre-match thoughts from Ralf Rangnick:
“Everyone’s pretty down to earth: no one in camp thinks we’ve achieved anything yet. The Euros begins properly for us [in this game].
“It’s important to have a fresh start because now we’re in knockout mode. We have to live in that mode and savour it from the very first minute. We’re playing a team who are strong on the ball, and who inject a lot of passion into matches.
“We need to be ready for both those things. We need to bring our energy, which sets us apart, to the table. We need hot hearts, but cool heads.”
The piece of luck that sent dour France past Belgium and into Euro 2024 quarter-finals
Of course, it wasn’t pretty. Didier Deschamps won’t care. All that matters, the French coach would strenuously argue, is that they got there. That could be said about France’s winning goal and the very 1-0 last-16 win over Belgium it decided.
After 85 minutes of what had perhaps been the worst football in this tournament – outside, maybe, some of England’s games – substitute Randal Kolo Muani tried a speculative shot that was mishit off the ground and deflected off the unfortunate Jan Vertonghen and in.
The piece of luck that sent dour France past Belgium and into Euros quarter-finals
France 1-0 Belgium: Jan Vertonghen diverted Randal Kolo Muani’s harmless shot into his own goal on an evening of fine margins
Jules Kounde’s stand against the rise of French nationalism is a piece of rare football bravery
It could be quipped that the game against Belgium actually had to end for a French player to do anything impressive, but this is too serious an issue. What’s more, before Jules Kounde spoke in the impressive way he did, the defender had already won man of the match in his country’s 1-0 over Belgium.
He had been superb in play. He then surpassed it with his words. Kounde was asked about the first round of the French legislative election results, which look set to bring the far-right National Rally into political influence.
The 25-year-old had already posted some of his thoughts on social media, which could have been an excuse to deflect questions and point to those. Kounde wasn’t going for any of that. He feels this is too important.
Jules Kounde’s stand against the rise of French nationalism is rare football bravery
The defender denounced the emergence of the National Rally at the forefront of French politics in a truly courageous move when he knew the blowback would be fierce
Austria v Turkey
Having snatched first place in Group D, Austria will look to extend their Euro 2024 campaign when they take on Turkey at the Leipzig Stadium in the final round of 16 tie.
Ralf Rangnick’s side finished ahead of France and the Netherlands in their section and now face opponents against whom they scored six goals a little over three months ago.
Turkey’s route to the last-16
Turkey are a strange team. They hit form at the perfect time ahead of Euro 2020 with many touting them as tournament dark horses only to fail spectacularly.
Ahead of Euro 2024, they’ve been in terrible form and yet find themselves with a spot in the last-16. An opening match salvo from Mert Muldur, Arda Guler and Muhammed Kerem Akturkoglu ensured they swept Georgia aside 3-1 before they were then humbled 3-0 by Portugal.
Needing a result in their final group match Cenk Tosun struck in the last-minute to secure a 2-1 victory over Czech Republic to put the Turks into the knockout rounds.
“We suffered a heavy loss to Austria in a friendly match in March – this time we want to win,” said the forward, whose team are contesting a knockout phase for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 2008.
“We always play dreaming of the success of Euro 2008,” added Tosun. Can Turkey replicate it this time around?
Austria’s route to the last-16
In the last meeting between these sides Austria hammered Turkey 6-1 in a friendly just over three months ago.
Ralf Rangnick’s team have become accustomed to being taken for granted despite coming into the tournament with a feeling that things are clicking and heading in the right direction.
Austria started their Euro 2024 compaign with a 1-0 loss to France though it was an own-goal that split the teams. They then defeated Poland 3-1 in a confident display and edged a thriller against the Netherlands 3-2 to ensure they finished top of Group D, nicknamed the Group of Death beforehand.
It was a feat that surprised no one in their camp.
“We believe we’re capable of anything,” said left-back Alexander Prass. “Few believed we’d finish top of the group, but deep down we did.”
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