July 3 – It was one of those defining moments that will go down in the annals of European football.
When Turkish keeper Mert Gunok flung himself across goal to prevent Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner taking their pulsating last-16 tie at Euro 2024 into extra time by miraculously keeping out his downward header, those of a certain age immediately recalled something similarly spectacular over half a century ago.
Ever since England’s Gordon Banks defied Pele in the 1970 World Cup, his stunning save against Brazil has been watched and watched a zillion times across the globe.
The collective view among pundits and punters alike has long been that it would never be equalled in a major competition. Now it arguably has – by Gunok’s gravity-defying stop. It’s at least certainly up for debate.
“It’s difficult if you have Gordon Banks in goal,” said Austria’s shell-shocked coach Ralf Rangnick as the country’s 2-1 defeat extended their failure to win a knockout match of a major tournament to seven decades.
Some might even suggest Gunok’s heroic save, in the 95th minute, was even better than that of Banks since it was in a winning cause.
“If you’re behind by two goals, then things aren’t any easier. The team tried everything,” said Rangnick. “We then scored one goal and we had enough time to achieve a draw.”
Which, on the balance of play and chances, the Austrians probably deserved. They have been one of shining lights of Euro 2024 compared with some of the turgid displays from the likes of France and England.
“I saw some games that were difficult to stay awake for, but that was not the case with us,” said Rangnick pointedly.
In a way you had to feel for them given how entertaining and enterprising they have been. In that sense they were worthy of a quarter-final berth but football doesn’t work like that and now they find themselves outside looking in.
“You need a bit of luck,” Rangnick added. “If Baumgartner’s header at the end would have gone in, we could have won this game. The Turks were fairly exhausted towards the end but we had a physical advantage.”
Maybe so but take nothing away from Vincenzo Montella’s side who dug as deep as any team could. He, like many others, was an emotional wreck after the best game in the tournament, settled by two goals from Merih Demiral and marked by another outstanding display, before he was substituted late on, by mercurial Real Madrid teenager Arda Guler — aka the Turkish Messi.
“No one gave up,” said Turkey’s Italian coach whose team were roared on by their fanatical fans in driving rain in Leipzig to set up a quarter-final clash with the Netherlands on Saturday.
“Everyone gave a bit extra in terms of their soul, and for a head coach, you know that there are matches such as these and you can only win matches such as these if there is a soul within the squad. There’s that belief, that conviction. I could go on all night, but I saw all of those attributes, and that makes me very proud.”
Turkey’s progress was all the more remarkable for the fact that Austria thrashed Montella’s side 6-1 in a friendly in March.
“That was a horrible stain on my career,” Montella said. “But this was the team that I was really waiting for, to try and get this monkey off my back. I respect Austria, I respect their head coach, I respect their game plan, the tactics that they implemented on the pitch. But we head coaches, just like footballers, are competitors. And I had that real competitive instinct deep within me because I wanted to change this result. It was previously only a friendly, but there’s no such thing as a friendly at international level. I saw Turkish heart today and that’s what I love about this country.”
What cannot be ignored is that victory came despite Turkey missing suspended captain Hakan Calhanoglou and defender Samet Akaydin due to suspension. That illustrated exactly how spirited a performance it was. Both will be back on Saturday yet now the Turks will be missing Orkun Kokcu and Ismail Yuksek, also due to the accumulation of yellow cards.
Whatever he goes on to achieve in his career, Gunok will always be remembered and revered for one stupendous, Herculean moment.
Now, the Besiktas keeper is praying for divine intervention.
“It is difficult to find words right now,” he said. “We still have a long way to go, if it’s God’s will we will go to the very end. We believe this. This win took us to the next level in terms of morale and confidence.”
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