Stunning Gunok save sees Turkey overcome Austria to reach Euro quarters

Turkey will be there. Austria won’t. That’s what the scoreline a couple of inches above this line told you. But it tells you nothing of the beautiful chaos that blossomed here from minute one through to 96 as Arda Guler, all 19 years of him, 10.5 stone soaking wet, carried his country to a last-eight showdown with the Dutch in Berlin.

He was indeed soaked, by beer and East German rain. By the end he was soaked in tears too.

Guler eliminated Ralf Rangnick, the tournament’s outstanding coach, who had adjusted to a terrific Vincenzo Montella plan but couldn’t adjust enough. Austria’s one set-piece goal was offset by two from the Turks, both buried by Merih Demiral after deliciously dangerous Guler deliveries.

The scoreline doesn’t tell you of Mert Günok’s outstretched paw in the 95th minute either, one last act of Turkish defiance, desperately clawing away a Christoph Baumgartner header. An incredible save to round off a quite incredible contest.

It started like a cross between basketball and bull fighting, found room amid a saturating second-half mist to become water polo meets Takeshi's Castle, and then went back where it started.

A last 16 which had given us Italy’s ignominy, VARstorm in Dortmund, Jude’s bike’n’balls special, Spanish swagger, French drudgery and whatever the hell Cristiano Ronaldo is doing over here, had one last episode. You hoped it was a gripping finale, worthy of the noise and the life inside this new-old Zentralstadion, which for this night at least was all red, no bull.

An energy drink company actually feels a fitting title sponsor for anything involving these two teams. How to sum up the first five minutes? Even the first minute alone? Mayhem. A glorious, wildly enjoyable mayhem all packed into 57 seconds, tailor made for our digital age. Stop scrolling and have a click. Go on.

Rangnick’s side burst out of the gates just like we’ve come to expect from them, a team that had scored inside the first 10 minutes in six of their last seven games. With single digits still on the clock Baumgartner fed Marcel Sabitzer bearing down.

Turkey cleared and blitzed up the other end. A corner was won and Guler conjured a delivery that the Austrian defence treated as a time-bomb. Stefan Posch said no thanks, it skipped off Baumgartner, pinballed back to Posch, goalkeeper Patrick Pentz belatedly trying to sort red wires from blue but only sending it Demiral’s way. Cue the detonation.

The Turkish end exploded in ferocious elation, the fastest goal in Euros knockout history. We were up and running.

Within the next 10 minutes Austria could have equalized, taken a lead, maybe added another. But they simply couldn’t hit the target. Sabitzer with his new 11-year-old-daughter-coming-home-from-a-week-in-Lanzarote kept overrunning a pass, missing a moment. An Austrian corner caused utter chaos but somehow rolled past. It was terrific stuff, a game living up to its potential rather then dragging itself, and us, down.

What Rangnick thought of it however, would have been uncertain. The Turks had stacked an extra man in defence and stifled Austria’s energy and urgency, Marko Arnautovic again looking like Rob Gronkowski in the lone striker role.

The absence of suspended captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu had only piled more responsibility on the slender shoulders of Guler. Boy did he carry it like it was nothing, a treasure to take him in as he found calm amid the first-half chaos and all that followed.

The Turks had broken rarely but almost always down the right where Barış Yılmaz found too much joy. When Rangnick made his halftime tweaks it was no surprise they both came down that side, Philipp Mwene and Romano Schmid both removed.

For ten minutes the changes worked a charm. Michael Gregoritsch making an instant impact as he created an opening for Baumgartner.

Twice more Austria would carve fresh holes in the Turkish backline, Arnautovic unable to do anything with either chance. But things were working now, Rangnick again proving to the likes of Gareth Southgate and Roberto Martinez that, you know, you can influence what happens out there.

Then came Guler’s second killer corner. Demiral, who had two goals in his entire international career, now had two in an hour after again rising to the moment.

Austria didn’t get here by panicking. Thirty minutes, plenty of time for two. Better again, 24 minutes, plenty of time for one after Rangnick tweaked some more and they found their own set-piece prowess, Gregoritsch plundering home after Posch flicked on Sabitzer’s 66th-minute corner.

The squall eased to a mist but the clock was ticking faster and faster now. Turkey, the tournament’s most booked team had picked up two more but still had 11 out there. It just didn’t look like it, red-shirted Austrians finding overloads and mismatches as the febrile atmosphere grew, cups teeming down any time a player went near the opposition fans.

Guler was removed and Vincenzo Montella was going to have to rely on at least a little bit of hope now. Could his soaked, energy-sapped side stick it out? They could, even with Yılmaz missing a glorious opening to settle it for good.

Günok’s paw had the final say. Turkish voices and hearts soared again. They’re going nowhere.

Austria (4-2-3-1): Pentz 6; Posch 7, Danso 6, Lienhart 6 (Wober 64), Mwene 4 (Prass 46); Seiwald 6, Baumgartner 7; Laimer 6 (Grillitsch 65), Sabitzer 7, Schmid 5 (Gregoritsch 46); Arnautovic 5.

Turkey (5-2-3): Gunok 8; Muldur 7, Ayhan 6, Demiral 8, Bardakci 6, Kadioglu 7; Yüksek 6 (Ozcan 58), Kökçü 7 (Kahveci 83); Yilmaz 7, Guler 8 (Yokuslu 78), Yildiz 6 (Aktürkoğlu 78).

Referee: Artur Dias (POR) 7.