Euro 2024 – Austria – Turkey (1-2) – “When you have Gordon Banks in front of you…”: Günok, the tournament’s end

It’s the last of the last. The very end of a lively and tense match. The counter shows 90th+4, exactly, in an injury time of… four minutes, when Christoph Baumgartner slams a powerful header on a cross delivered by Alexander Prass from the left side. The Leipzig attacking midfielder could hardly have nicked his ball better. He applies himself to “putting it back where it came from”, this famous advice, almost a rule, repeated at every turn. He is at point-blank range.

But in front of him, there is a Turkish hero. A crazy Turk, dare we say: Mert Gunok, 35 years old, a career of less than 300 professional matches, spent exclusively in the Super Lig between Fenerbahçe, Bursaspor, Istanbul Basaksehir and Besiktas. The recent winner of the Turkish Cup could have remained planted on his line after his fourth side step to his left. But he finds the speed to fly to his right and push the ball away with a firm hand, far enough so that Marcel Sabitzer, who was dragging, could not catch it.

The tournament stoppage, maybe of the year. Possibly of a lifetime for the person concerned. The statistic is worth what it is worth, but on this play, the “expected goal” was 0.94. In other words, there was only a 6% chance of seeing Gunok make this save from another world. And from another century. “We had time to equalise. But it’s difficult when you have Gordon Banks in the opposing goal,” Austrian coach Ralf Rangnick bowed out at the end of the match.

Coming from such a connoisseur of his sport, the comparison with the famous “save of the century” during Brazil – England on June 7, 1970, says a lot about the moment witnessed by the crowd gathered in Leipzig on Tuesday. It was neither the World Cup, nor Pelé in the role of the striker. But like Jude Bellingham’s overhead kick that saved England from elimination on Saturday, the image will remain in the memories.

“How did you get it out? God bless you!” Merih Demiral said to his goalkeeper in footage captured after the match. The other hero of the evening, who scored twice, still couldn’t believe it in a post-match interview. “He made a magnificent save…”“I’m going to have trouble speakingbriefly reacted the man who had also disgusted Marko Arnautovic earlier in the evening. I would like to thank everyone who prayed for us. We still have a long way to go. I hope we will get to the end.” After such a parade, how can we not believe in a miracle…