Gunok's wonder-save sparks Turkish joy, Austrian praise
A moment of brilliance from Mert Gunok has triggered celebrations for Turkey fans and a big exclamation from Austria rival Michael Gregoritsch, who described the goalkeeper’s flying stop as one of the best he’d ever seen.
Turkey’s No.1 Gunok pulled off one of the saves of the European Championship deep into added time on Wednesday (AEST) to secure his nation’s place in the quarter-finals.
The keeper leaped instinctively into a full-stretch dive to his right to palm away a close-range header from Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner in the 94th minute to preserve his team’s 2-1 win.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“That’s one of the best saves I’ve ever seen live on the field,” Austria’s goal scorer Gregoritsch said.
“You have to give credit to the Turkish goalkeeper because it was extremely difficult to stop. Unbelievable, really.”
Austria coach Ralf Rangnick was asked if the goal reminded him of England goalkeeper Gordon Banks’ famous stop to deny Brazilian legend Pele at the 1970 World Cup.
Rangnick rued the save, saying he was sure that if the ball had gone in, Austria would have gone on to win the match.
“With Gordon Banks in goal, that was the last chance that we had,” the coach said.
It was Gunok’s fourth big save of the game, including one from a one-on-one against Marko Arnautovic.
It meant Merih Demiral’s two goals were enough to send Turkey through to a quarter-final against the Netherlands in Berlin’s Olympiastadion on Saturday.
