Turkey got off to the best possible start in their Euro 2024 second round game against Austria as they took the lead within a minute of kick off with the second-fastest goal in Euros history.
Vincenzo Montella’s side booked their place in the round of 16 by matching Portugal’s six points in Group F, winning acclaim for their attacking brand of football.
But they faced a tough assignment against an Austria side who had been just as impressive on their way to topping an even tougher group – and with a place in a quarter-final clash against earlier winners the Netherlands on the line, this clash promised to be fascinating.
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That hunch proved to be correct after Turkey went in front after just 57 seconds, with Merih Demiral converting from close range off a corner.
Abdulkerim Bardakci was not quite able to reach Arda Guler’s delivery from the right, but the ball curled towards the goal and had to be cleared off the line by Christoph Baumgartner – only for it to ricochet back towards goal off teammate Stefan Posch.
Patrick Pentz reacted quickly to push it off the line again, but only as far as Demiral, who swiped the ball into the roof of the net.
There had never been a goal scored in the first minute of a Euros game before this tournament began, but a new record for fastest goal was set by Albania’s Nedim Bajrami when he opened the scoring against Italy after just 23 seconds in the first round of group games.
That puts Demiral’s strike in second place in the all-time fastest goal charts, while another early strike this summer - Youri Tieleman’s hit against Romania after 73 seconds – is fourth, just behind Russia’s Dmitri Kirichenko against Greece in 2004.
Turkey had not reached the knockouts of a major tournament since their run to the semi-finals at Euro 2008.
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