Turkey dumps out Austria to face Netherlands

Turkey held on tight despite a late onslaught and even needed a moment of brilliance from their goalkeeper deep into stoppage time to beat Austria 2-1 and progress to the quarterfinals of the 2024 Euros.

Both teams faced off in Leipzig on Tuesday evening for a place in the quarterfinals alongside seven other teams who had sealed their places. Austria was slightly the favorite going into the fixture, but Turkey didn’t do the bookmakers any favor as they hit the back of the net in the first minute of the game through Merih Demiral.

An Arda Guler corner kick was poorly dealt with by the Austrian defense as one of the players in red scooped the ball onto Demiral, who inadvertently pushed the ball into the net. That goal set the tone for the game and the pace for Turkey’s first quarterfinal appearance in the Euros in 16 years.

There was drama and action all through the first half, and although an Austrian equalizer was expected before the break, no goals came until early in the second half when Demiral struck again in the 59th in a similar manner, but this time with a header to double Turkey’s lead.

Six minutes after the hour mark, Austria pulled one back to set up a tense final 30 minutes of the game. Michael Gregoritsch was left unmarked at the far post from a corner kick, and he poked home the ball to pull one back for his team.

However, even though the Austrian team had a good chance to equalize in the final minutes of the game, Turkey’s goalkeeper was on hand to push away a huge chance and seal his team’s place in the quarterfinal.

Turkey will now face the Netherlands on Sunday in their quarterfinal fixture after the Dutch beat Romania 3-0 earlier in the day.

Euro 2024 Quarterfinal complete fixtures:

Friday

Spain v Germany (17:00 BST), Stuttgart

Portugal v France (20:00 BST), Hamburg

Saturday

England v Switzerland (17:00 BST), Dusseldorf

Netherlands v Turkey (20:00 BST), Berlin.