Oh, what fun we had. What an occasion this was, what noise, what a night. Played in the middle of a biblical storm, water cascading off the roof of the Westfalenstadion, the Euros best night fit the weather somehow: a wild, wonderful, wide open match that had everything: 38 shots, three efforts that hit the woodwork and four goals. One was historic, Georges Mikautadze scoring Georgia’s first ever at a tournament; two were ridiculous, comic book belters from Arda Guler and Mert Muldur, and the other was scored with the last touch of an astonishing evening Kerem Akturkoglu running 70 yards and rolling the ball into an empty net.
Right there, with the bench emptying and everyone heading after him, the place erupting yet again when you thought it could hardly erupt any more, Turkey had the victory and this game had the ending it deserved. Or one of them anyway. Just seconds before, Georgia had a 96th-minute chance to equalise – their third opportunity in added time – which would have been just as dramatic, and probably just as deserved. Given one last chance, goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili was up for the corner, the chance to be a hero. Instead, the ball was cleared and it was Atkurkoglu who took that role.
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