18th June, 2024
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Turkey defeated hard-fighting Georgia 3-1 in a thrilling encounter at Euro 2024 on Tuesday in Germany to claim all three points in Group F.
Turkey opened the scoring against the impressive debutant 25 minutes into the game. Mert Muldur got to the ball on the edge of the box and fired in a first-time shot without any hesitation. The strike was excellent and went straight into the top right corner.
Two minutes later, Kenan Yildiz received a delightful pass inside the box and smashed a low shot into the bottom left corner for Turkey’s second goal but the referee ruled out the goal for offside.
Georgia equalised 32 minutes into the encounter, scoring their first ever goal in a major tournament.
Georges Mikautadze unleashed a first-time shot from inside the box and beat the goalkeeper into the bottom right corner to make the score 1-1.
Turkey hit their second goal in the 65th minute. Arda Guler controlled the ball with an excellent first touch on the edge of the penalty box after receiving a splendid pass and smashed the ball into the top right corner.
Five minutes later, Giorgi Kochorashvili showed off his amazing technique to get in front of goal by himself. He pulled the trigger but sent the ball onto the crossbar.
In the 87th minute, Giorgi Mamardashvili mde a great save. Yusuf Yazici jumped high to meet a cross and glanced a promising header from close range, but the goalkeeper pulled off a brilliant stop to keep it out.
Six minutes into added time, Zuriko Davitashvili struck a powerful volley towards goal, but one of the defenders blocked his attempt.
Georgia took the resulting corner, but their hopes of scoring a goal ended with a nice clearance by the defence.
The resulting set piece from Georgia was comfortably intercepted by one of the defending players.
The Georgia keeper who was at Turkey’s goalpost was struggling to get back after going up for a corner.
Kerem Akturkoglu took full advantage and simply floated the ball from long range into the back of the net to make the score 3-1.