Demiral’s brace sends Turkey to quarterfinals

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BERLIN, July 3, (Xinhua): Merih Demiral’s double strike was enough for Turkey to eliminate stubborn Austria 2-1 in a Euro 2024 round of 16 match at Leipzig’s Red Bull Arena.
The Turks had a fairy tale start to the clash, scoring the fastest goal in the knockout stages of the Euro tournament as Austria couldn’t clear the ball following a corner, allowing Demiral to tap home the opener just 57 seconds into the game.

Austria responded with furious attacks, but Christoph Baumgartner missed two chances to restore parity. The Austrians struggled to create more chances against Turkey’s well-organized defense and failed to produce clear-cut opportunities before the break. Meanwhile, Vincenzo Montella’s side remained dangerous, with Demiral heading over the target following another corner kick.
After the restart, Austria came out with momentum and kept Turkey’s defense busy. However, Marco Arnautovic couldn’t beat goalkeeper Mert Gunok, and Konrad Laimer pulled wide from a promising position moments later.

Despite Austria’s pressure, it was Montella’s side that scored against the flow of the game. Demiral nodded home his second goal from a corner, making it two for Turkey.
Austria managed to answer and halve the deficit through substitute Michael Gregoritsch, who sparked hopes after drilling a flicked-on corner into the roof of the net with plenty of time left to play.

Austria went in search of the equalizer, throwing every man forward, while Turkey kept all their men behind the ball, waiting for counterattack opportunities. Baris Yilmaz had the golden chance to finish off one of those counterattacks but missed the target from inside the box with only goalkeeper Patrick Pentz to beat.
Rangnick’s side nearly restored parity in the dying seconds of the match, but Gunok denied Baumgartner’s close-range header with a one-handed parry on the goal line.
With this result, Turkey advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2008, where they will face the Netherlands at Berlin’s Olympia Stadium on Saturday.

“We didn’t have the necessary luck, and I believe if the game had gone to extra time, we would have won. We had time to score an equalizer. We didn’t make enough of our chances, and we didn’t defend their set pieces well enough,” said Austria coach Rangnick.

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