The Turkish national team won the opening match of a European Championship for the first time. In the 3-1 win, two wonderful goals from Mert Müldür (25th) and Arda Güler (65th) were a nice gift for team manager Vincenzo Montella on his 50th birthday.
Thousands of Turkish fans made the match in Dortmund a home game for the favorites, who dominated the game from the first minute but had a hard time with Georgian attacks. When Kaan Ayhan hit the inside post (10th minute), Turkey were only centimeters away from taking the lead, but in return goalkeeper Mert Günok was able to clear a deflected shot from Mekvabishvili for a corner (11th minute).
The Georgians’ five-man defense held out against the pressure until the 25th minute – then Müldür came on. The full-back, who grew up in Vienna and trained at Rapid, took the ball directly in the box and fired it into the top corner. Two minutes later, the Turks turned away again, celebrating, but Kenan Yildiz’s goal was disallowed for offside.
First European Championship goal for Georgia
And instead of a clear lead, the score was suddenly 1:1. The team of team manager Willy Sagnol, who did not use Austrian champion Otar Kiteishvili from Sturm Graz and only brought on WAC defender Sandro Altunashvili in the final phase (89th minute), capitalized on one of their most dangerous forays through Georges Mikautadze. The striker hit the near corner (32nd minute) and almost scored again three minutes later, but the second attempt went just wide of the goal.
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Photo: INA FASSBENDER (APA/AFP/INA FASSBENDER)
Source: Nachrichten
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