Austria vs Turkey

Red Bull Arena in Leipzig sets the stage for an exciting Euro 2024 last-16 tie between high-flying Austria and perennial underachievers Turkey.

Despite losing to France in their opening Euro 2024 outing, courtesy of an unfortunate first-half own goal, Austria defied the odds to finish atop Group D ahead of the Netherlands, Poland, and Les Bleus. Back-to-back wins against Poland and the Dutch fired Ralf Rangnick’s side to the top of the section, establishing them as one of the tournament’s surprise packages. Though to the knockout stages of a European Championship for only the second time in the nation’s history, Das Team will look to break into the quarter-finals for the first time following a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to eventual winners Italy in the 2020 edition. Standing between them and the last eight is Turkey, a team they hammered 6-1 in March’s friendly but failed to beat in competitive action since 1988 (D1, L4).

Austria’s outstanding run of losing just once across their last ten internationals (W8, D1) paints a potentially bleak picture for the Turks, who are back to the knockouts for the first time since 2008. Despite their notorious struggles at major tournaments, the Crescent-Stars boast a 100% win ratio in Euro last-16 ties, having won both previous matches at this stage. With history on their side, Vincenzo Montella’s men head into proceedings after a decent group-stage campaign (W2, L1). Turkey’s pre-tournament form suggested they would flame out in the group stages, having won none of their five games before heading to Germany (D2, L3). However, winning two Group F fixtures ‘to one’ highlights this team’s tremendous attacking potential.