Turkey began their Euro 2024 campaign with a bang as defender Mert Muldur scored one of the goals of the tournament so far.
The Turks were up against tournament debutants Georgia in Dortmund for their opening Group F match and wasted little time in spoiling the party on an historic occasion for their opponents.
Turkey began the tournament ranked 35 places higher than the Georgians, who headed to Germany at 75th in the FIFA world rankings and were keen to make this supposed superiority show.
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And after an entertaining opening first 25 minutes, it was Vincenzo Montella's side who broke the deadlock - and they did it in style.
Fenerbahce right-back Muldur took advantage of a poor Georgian clearance as the ball fell to him and he was able to produce stunning technique to powerfully slice a volley past goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and get the Turks off to the perfect start.
Turkish delight in Dortmund! ⚽️#BBCEuros #Euro2024 #TURGEO pic.twitter.com/ENbdVJPr8IJune 18, 2024
Georgia nearly found themselves dead and buried before half-time. Turkey notched a second goal seconds after the stunning first – but the goal was ruled out by the Argentine referee within seconds.
But instead, they were soon level, as Georges Mikautadze's first-time strike went in at the near post after great work on the right-hand side by Giorgi Kochorashvili, who was able to create space for himself and cross the ball in.
That was Georgia's first-ever goal in a major tournament, as Turkey went from thinking they were 2-0 up to going all-square in a matter of moments.
There was doubt over this game even going ahead in the first place. Fans had to run for cover after Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park began leaking, with a cascade of water filling the ground.
It’s been nothing if not eventful…
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