The duel will take place at the Borussia Dortmund stadium, known throughout Europe for the impressive ‘Yellow Wall’ that will be dyed red with the fervor of the Turkish fans, one of the most passionate in the tournament.
With their chants and whistles, the Turkish fans will seek to destabilize the ‘Seleçao’, who already went through difficult minutes in their victory against the Czech Republic (2-1).
A late goal by Francisco Conceiçao in added time prevented the Euro Cup from starting with a draw, in a frustrating match for Cristiano Ronaldo, who was not able to influence the result.
The Al-Nassr attacker has just scored 44 goals in 45 games for his club, but away from European football, his level of excellence is far from that which marked a golden era at Real Madrid (2009-2018).
Arda Güler, for her part, is just a promising young player for the Spanish giant, who she joined in 2023 from Fenerbahçe, but her great game against Georgia (3-1) on Tuesday astonished the football world.
The right winger scored one of the most beautiful goals so far in the tournament, to put his team ahead 2-1 with a long shot from the left, celebrated throughout the country by the great Turkish community.
Precocious than Ronaldo
At 19 years and 114 days old, he became the youngest player to score on his debut in a Euro Cup, stealing the record from Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored at 19 years and 128 days old in Euro 2004.
“I don’t pay attention to individual performance. We must continue as a team, as far as possible. “I’m here for the team,” commented the young attacker at a press conference, after being elected Player of the Match by UEFA.
Turkey dreams of dealing a double blow on Saturday: defeating Portugal for the first time in a European Championship (3 defeats so far) and advancing to the round of 16 for the first time since 2008.
On the Portuguese side, Ronaldo will try to improve his performance to take his ‘Seleçao’ to the final phase of the tournament. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner wants to extend his history in the Euro Cup to the maximum, which he won in 2016 and which he has played on six occasions, a record.
If he scores, ‘CR7’ would surpass another record, that of the oldest player to score in this tournament, which until now is held by the Austrian Ivica Vastic, when he scored in 2008 at the age of 38 years and 257 days.
The next stage for Güler is to manage the expectations that are being generated around him, both at the club level and with the national team.
His first season at Real Madrid was disrupted by injuries and setbacks, but he finished the season on a high, with five goals in his last five La Liga games.
