Key events
That match danced into life from the get-go, and the two teams never let up. Turkey were the better side in the first half, Austria strangely subdued (relatively speaking) despite looking dangerous in the opening exchanges. How Christoph Baumgartner failed to score from a couple of yards will remain a mystery for the ages. But Arda Güler had already reduced Austria’s defence to a panicked mess with the first corner of the game, and he and Merih Demiral combined again to double Turkey’s lead in the second period. Michael Gregoritsch halved the deficit, Austria piled forward, Turkey clung on, and Baumgartner was finally denied again, during the last few seconds, by Mert Günok’s world-class reaction save. Poor Austria, who have contributed so much to Euro 2024. Somewhere in the multiverse, Baumgartner has scored twice and they’re through; nobody could complain. But nobody can complain about this either, the brilliant young Turks playing some swashbuckling stuff while showing they can dig in at the back when they need to as well. Turkey are deserved winners, and the Netherlands won’t fancy playing them in Berlin on Saturday at all. Potential winners? Why not?
FULL TIME: Austria 1-2 Turkey
Pentz comes up for the corner, but Turkey clear it! They’ve held on, thanks to Mert Günok’s last-ditch wonder save! That was an epic battle, the best match of the tournament by some distance. A fully deserved victory for Turkey, though Austria gave it their all too, contributing to a copper-bottomed classic. What a match!
90 min +5: What a save! A desperate cross looped into the Turkish box from the left by Prass. Baumgartner rises highest, six yards out, on his own. He sends a downward header across Günok and up towards the top left. He’s surely scored … but the keeper somehow claws it out, Gordon Banks style! Corner.
90 min +4: Kadıoğlu breaks upfield, then sends Yılmaz clear on goal! He shoots for the bottom right, but Pentz makes a save that keeps Austria alive. Just!
90 min +3: Sabitzer tries to bustle into space down the middle but is forced off the ball by sheer numbers. Turkey clear again.
90 min +2: Bardakcı goes down with cramp again. He gets up quickly enough, though, not wanting to gift Austria more additional time.
90 min +1: A cross in from the left by Wöber. Gregoritsch’s header, six yards out, nearly drops to Posch, but Yokuşlu hacks clear just in time. The thin margins!
90 min: Austria have four additional minutes to save themselves; Turkey four to hang on.
89 min: Yılmaz barges into the Austrian box down the right and lashes a wild shot over the bar while aiming for the top-right corner. He holds his head in his hands, as well he might, with Yokuşlu and Kadıoğlu arriving behind him, waiting for the pull-back for the tap-in.
88 min: Austria soak up more pressure, then suddenly break three on two. Aktürkoğlu sprays a pass down the right for Yılmaz, who nearly latches onto the pass, but Pentz slides out to hack clear just in time.
86 min: Posch has been everywhere during this second half, and here he is winning another corner down the right. Sabitzer sends it in for Baumgartner, who can’t keep his header down. Another goal kick.
84 min: This is attack versus defence. Posch crosses from the right. Baumgartner competes for a header in the middle. Gunok and Demiral do enough to put him off. Goal kick.
83 min: Orkun Kökçü pulls up and is replaced by İrfan Can Kahveci. Bardakcı needs some treatment for cramp as well. Turkey to a man putting in the mother, father and extended family of A Shift.
81 min: Austria continue to probe. A ball whipped in by Sabitzer from the right. Baumgartner can’t convert at the far post, Ayhan doing just enough to put him off, the ball deflecting wide left. So close.
80 min: “Can we all agree that we need extra time here?” asks Espen B. “Games like this doesn’t come around very often.” Well, I’m in. Austria are doing their level best. Turkey can’t get out.
79 min: Nothing comes of the corner.
78 min: Before the corner can be taken, Arda Güler and Kenan Yıldız are replaced by Okay Yokuşlu and Kerem Aktürkoğlu … and poor Sabitzer, waiting to take the set piece, is struck by a cup or a coin or some other projectile. A couple of Turkish players go over to their fans and ask them to desist.
77 min: Turkey are getting a little sloppy as Austria press forward. Kadıoğlu’s loose pass leads to a throw that leads to Arnautović forcing a corner on the right.
75 min: Grillitsch has a belt from 25 yards. Straight at Günok, who handles well in the heavy rain. Turkey are inviting pressure on themselves a bit here.
73 min: A cross comes into the Turkish box from the left. Gregoritsch eyebrows it towards Arnautović, who thinks about launching into an overhead kick but then thinks twice. Austria come again, Prass winning a corner with another cross from the left, but Gunok punches the set piece clear.
71 min: It’s tipping down in Leipzig now. What an atmosphere, in more ways than one. “That Austrian goal there very like Solskjaer v Bayern Munich,” observes Colm O’Connor, “except the ball bounced here.”
69 min: Gregoritsch has made a difference all right. Now he gets on the end of a long punt into the Turkish box, but can only steer his header straight at the keeper.
68 min: Not sure whether Sabitzer, having taken that corner, turned to cup his ear at the Turkish fans. But he was copping for as many drinking vessels as Güler did before Turkey’s second, so he’d have been within his rights.
GOAL! Austria 1-2 Turkey (Gregoritsch 66)
Austria set about clearing their heads with some calm possession football in the middle of the park. Then a ball sent down the right comes off Kadıoğlu. Sabitzer sends the corner in. Posch flicks a header on, then Gregoritsch, free at the far stick, roofs from a couple of yards! Game on!
65 min: Austria make a double change. Off go Philipp Lienhart and Konrad Laimer, on come Maximilian Wöber and Michael Gregoritsch.
64 min: Austria had come right back into the game, but now they’ve lost their shape and their heads. They’re all over the shop right now. They need to get it together fast. The Turkish fans, as you’d expect, are giving it plenty.
62 min: Baumgartner tries to release Posch down the inside-right channel but overcooks the pass. Gunok claims. The ball was on.
60 min: A pause before the restart, so many cups having been thrown at Güler before he took that corner. Güler celebrated that goal by turning to the Austrian fans and, yes, cupping his ear. The simple retorts are sometimes the best.
GOAL! Austria 0-2 Turkey (Demiral 59)
Yılmaz wins a corner down the right. Before Güler can take it, he’s pelted by cups. It doesn’t faze him. He whips fiercely towards the near post. Demiral flashes a header past Pentz, and the pair have done for Austria again!
58 min: Salih Özcan comes on for İsmail Yüksek.
57 min: Kadıoğlu breezes down the left and enters the box, a fine run that’s ended with a witless blooter straight at Danso. Turkey show in attack for the first time since the break.
56 min: Gregoritsch shovels a pass down the right to release Arnautović, who reaches the edge of the box before floating a poor chip across Gunok and wide left. Turns out he was a mile offside anyway, which probably explains the slightly half-hearted nature of the chip.
55 min: It’s raining in Leipzig, by the way. On a greasy pitch, a fast game can only get even faster. And here comes the increasingly influential Posch, who chests down a loose clearance on the edge of the box, strides in from the right, and takes a whack. It’s deflected out for a corner that comes to nothing. Austria are giving the Turkish door a good old rap.
53 min: Laimer hip-shakes his way down the middle, reaches the edge of the box, then curls his shot wide left. The run deserved a better finish. Austria are asking some serious questions for the first time this evening.
52 min: Guler is downed by Lienhart, a crude bodycheck that earns the Austrian a booking.
51 min: Posch slips a clever little defence-splitter down the middle to release Arnautović, whose first-time shot is well blocked by Gunok. Great save. Austria are more obviously on it since the restart.
50 min: Arnautović spins and sprays a cute diagonal pass down the right for Posch, who crosses long. Gregoritsch can’t get his header on target, but this is a good response from Austria, who have clearly been given the what-for by Ralf Rangnick during the break.
49 min: Now it’s the other sub’s turn to cause trouble out wide. Prass presses down the left and runs the ball out of play, a poor end to what initially looked like a promising run.
47 min: There nearly was a quickfire goal, though, as Gregoritsch immediately piles down the right after a long ball and hooks back from the byline for Baumgartner, who pokes wide right from eight yards. The flag eventually goes up, though, Gregoritsch having not quite kept the ball in play. Goal kick.
45 min 58 sec: A slow start to the second half in comparison to the first. No goals yet.
Turkey get the second half underway. No changes for them, but Austria replace Phillipp Mwene and Romano Schmid with Alexander Prass and Michael Gregoritsch. Meanwhile here’s Kári Tulinius: “Given that Turkey played in the group stage with the calm of someone rushing home after realising they’d left the oven on several hours ago, and Austria played like a house on fire, I didn’t expect this match to get to halftime with the Turks looking comfortable defending a one-goal lead.”
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Austria 0-1 Turkey
There’s just enough time for Posch to power down the right and whistle a low cross towards Baumgartner, who pokes wide right from six yards. Chance. The last one of a first half that fair flew by. More please!
45 min: … and then he clatters into Yilmaz on the Turkey right. Mwene’s fortunate not to go into the book for that, especially as he’s another player one booking away from suspension.
44 min: Mwene attempts to bring down a long ball while racing up the left touchline. He ends up sailing across the turf on the old nipples, the ball sailing out for a goal kick. That just about sums up the first half for Austria.
42 min: Yüksek will miss the quarter final if Turkey get there, having shoved over Baumgartner from behind in the midfield.
41 min: Güler shapes to meet a left-wing cross with a bicycle kick from the edge of the box. The ball’s diverted away from him just in time by an Austrian leg. Shame, and now we’ll never know.
39 min: Schmid is booked for some rugby-infused cynicism on Kadıoğlu. He was one of the few players on the pitch not facing suspension if booked tonight. He is now, though.
38 min: A passage of play during which neither team can hold onto the ball for more than half a nanosecond. It’s nonetheless still very entertaining. It ends with a long throw flung into the Turkish box. Müldür slices it high into the air but Günok leaps to claim.
36 min: Sabitzer makes good ground down the left but his cross, aimed for Arnautović, is easily whipped clear by Demiral.
35 min: Austria will at least be thankful that Turkey haven’t launched an attack for the best part of ten minutes.
