The DFB team dismantles Scotland, the Spaniards show Croatia, Austria puts up a great fight against France: But no game of this European Football Championship has been as breathtaking as the duel between Turkey and Georgia.
The old football temple, the Westfalenstadion, has a lot in its bones. Intoxicating derbies, magical European Cup evenings. A lot has happened here, memorable, atmospheric, historic. Borussia Dortmund and its fans have shaken the foundations of the arena to its core. Multiple times. Dortmund is an iconic powerhouse of this game that is lived and loved all over the world, both big and small. And this powerhouse drove two national teams into a crazy frenzy on Tuesday evening. The 97 minutes full of fight, art, passion, desire and wonderful goals are a declaration of love for the game of football.
Turkey and outsider and European Championship debutant Georgia fought a duel that took the breath away from 70,000 fans in the stands and millions of others. No breaks, just full speed. Referee Facundo Tello from Argentina helped out and prescribed a robust approach to this European Championship match. There was banging, rattling and roaring every second. Football is always at its best when it’s not about tactics. Challenging duels between giants, waiting for the one mistake, all of that is usually hard to bear. It’s much nicer when two teams run at each other and have nothing else on their minds than kicking.
What a gigantic backdrop it was in front of which the two teams performed their show. The city had been colored red and white all day. Here, where on match days it is usually black and yellow, where the city lives the rhythm of the great BVB. By midday, the city was at a standstill. The first motorcades rolled across the ring. Two fan marches set off on the main roads to the stadium. According to the police, there were 15,000 Turks, peaceful, emotional, very loud. They arrived still dry. The Georgians, clearly inferior in numbers, were hit hard by the heavy rain in the early afternoon.
Top speed, breathless
In the stadium, “Westphalian Falls” fell from the roof, and stewards pushed the masses of water into drains with everything they had. When it dried up and the teams stepped onto the pitch, it really broke out. It got louder and louder. And it didn’t stop. The heartbeat of the stadium was racing and the players were completely infected. They didn’t allow themselves a second to feel themselves out.
After ten minutes, Kaan Ayhan hit a ball against the post. There was no stopping them. The momentum had lost all control of itself and the game. A minute later, Ansor Mekvabishvili failed with a deflected attempt against Mert Günok. Turkey had the ball a lot, Hakan Calhanouglu orchestrated the game. It went from left to right, always at top speed. Then Kenan Yilmaz, the top talent that FC Bayern once thought was too light, tried it. His shot bounced off Giorgi Mamardashvili’s hand. The Georgians needed a few minutes to orient themselves on the big European Championship stage and in this absurd, loud atmosphere.
Then it became spectacular. It got loud, quiet, loud again. Cheers here, despair there. Despair here, cheers there. Perhaps the best ten minutes of this still young tournament began in the 25th minute – with a dream goal. Mert Müldür volleyed a cross that was unluckily extended by the Georgian defender Lasha Dvali into the net. An undercut with the outside of his foot. In tennis you would say: slice. The south stand, usually black and yellow, today red and white, exploded. The vocal apparatus of the Turkish fans, well oiled in the early stages and on the verge of eruption several times, finally gave out. Red zone.
VAR offside only a brief mood killer
Just two minutes later, the spectacle repeated itself. Yildiz, who was almost unstoppable, pushed a cross extended by Orkun Kökcü under the Georgian roof – there was no stopping the Turkish block. But the cheering suddenly stopped. A corner of Yildiz’s shoe was outside the calibrated line. Offside. The VAR proved to be a relentless, incorruptible, pedantic mood killer – and kept the Georgian crusaders afloat.
The European Championship debutants pulled themselves together and attacked. Georgia was only there because UEFA had expanded the tournament and introduced the Nations League. Both were highly controversial. Willy Sagnol’s team had only qualified in the first place as winners of their section of the Nations Tournament. This game provided plenty of arguments that the idea was worth it.
Back in the game, it was Georgia’s turn. Because the Turks gave them space. A shot from the left half of the field (30th) was not a test for Günok. But he did not pass the next tough test. Instead of blocking the shot from close range by Georges Mikautadze with his left foot after a great combination, he tried to get his left paw down. Too late. Equalizer. Caught on the wrong foot, looked stupid. And suddenly the white and red Georgians, who occupied 15, maybe 20 percent of the stands, went wild. The underdogs suddenly had the upper hand. Three minutes after the goal, Mikautadze missed the double strike, his volley hitting centimeters wide of the Turkish goal.
Real jewel Güler with second dream goal
Then a break. But this fiery dance did not lose any of its heat. The Turks attacked with force, but despaired of themselves and the Georgian defensive giants. Their front men had long since discovered the great fun of playing and fiddling. A one-two here, a lob there, lots of speed, lots of technique. Giorgi Chakvetadze stood out in particular. The technician was really keen and confident. His passes were powerful, his dribbling full of courage. Both teams fired from all positions, but almost always got stuck somewhere. The Turks had to keep sprinting backwards to avoid being nasty surprised. The party they had imagined for the evening was suddenly in jeopardy.
But then Vincenzo Montella’s team struck with ice-cold precision. It was another dream goal that set off a crazy back and forth. The Turkish jewel Arda Güler, who had not yet fully arrived at Real Madrid, slashed the ball towards the Georgian goal with what felt like surgical precision. Mamardashvilli stretched and stretched until the elasticity of his right arm was exhausted. The ball hit the gable. Minute 67. Pulse 180 plus x.
Despair, cramps, exhaustion
But the Georgians again took heart and legs in their hands. Giorgi Kochorashvili danced past the Turkish defence after a one-two with Mikautadze – but only hit the crossbar. There were five minutes between Turkish joy and Georgian suffering. It was pouring down like crazy again. In the stands they turned on their cell phone lights, creating a concert atmosphere, while the wild battle continued on the pitch below. Sliding tackles flew across the pitch, there was a bang in the header duel. Neither team held back. The Turks ran for the final counterattack, the Georgians tricked themselves to sheer desperation. The first players had cramps. The duel was tough, physically and mentally. The first match day was already a borderline experience, at the limit of total exhaustion. But it just didn’t stop.
In the 87th minute, substitute Yusuf Yazici pushed a ball towards the goal from close range. Mamardashvilli reacted superbly. The decision was postponed. The score should have been 2:2, Georgia’s superstar Khvicha Kvaratskhelia left his opponent standing and crossed into the middle, where two teammates robbed themselves of the chance from close range. Hair was pulled out in the stands. Then the next unbelievable scene: a free kick from Kvaratskhelia from the half-field slipped past everyone to the far post. From there the ball bounced to Zuriko Davitashvili, who shot it into the empty goal. However, a Turkish defender somehow got his head in the way. Hair was pulled out again. Nobody was sitting down, everyone was standing, everyone was raging. Pyrotechnics flared. The stadium shook and wobbled.
Corner for Georgia. The keeper came forward into the penalty area. Defended. Next corner. Defended again. This time into the path of Kerem Aktürkoglu, who sprinted across the entire pitch and shot into the empty goal in the box. Party, nothing but party. All the Turkish players sprinted around the pitch, hardly anyone in the stands knew where their place was, they were so tumultuous. Final whistle.
The Westfalenstadion now urgently needs rest. “It’s hard for me to say that as a Bayern man. This stadium is one of the best in the world, it’s really made for football. The atmosphere was fantastic,” said Sagnol. The European Championship had seen its best game. A declaration of love for the game called football.