A brilliant moment from Mert Günok sparked cheers from Turkish fans and elicited a loud exclamation from Austria’s rival Michael Gregoritsch, who described the goalkeeper’s flying save as one of the best he had ever seen.
Gunok, Turkey’s number one, made one of the best saves of the European Championship in injury time on Tuesday, securing his country’s place in the quarter-finals.
The goalkeeper instinctively stretched to the right to parry a header from Austrian Christoph Baumgartner from close range in the 94th minute, thus securing his team’s 2-1 victory.
“This is one of the best saves I have ever seen live on the field,” said Austria’s goalscorer Gregoritsch.
“You have to compliment the Turkish goalkeeper because it was extremely difficult to stop that. Really unbelievable.”
Austria coach Ralf Rangnick was asked whether the goal reminded him of the famous save by English goalkeeper Gordon Banks against Brazilian football star Pelé at the 1970 World Cup.
Rangnick regretted the save and said he was convinced Austria would have won the game if the ball had been in.
“With Gordon Banks in goal, that was our last chance,” said the German coach.
For Gunok, this was the fourth brilliant save of the game, including one in a one-on-one against Marko Arnautovic.
Merih Demiral’s two goals were enough to put Turkey in the quarter-finals on Saturday against the Netherlands at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.