Euro 2024 five quick hits: Türkiye scores terrific goals, Cristiano Ronaldo makes history, fans engage in 'food wars'

Euro 2024 five quick hits: Türkiye scores terrific goals, Cristiano Ronaldo makes history, fans engage in 'food wars'

By abc.net.au
Wednesday 19/06/2024
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first player to compete at six European Championships.(Reuters: Annegret Hilse)

Two Euro 2024 matches on Wednesday morning, AEST, produced two contenders for goal of the tournament, while fans were drenched by a leaking stadium.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo made European Championships history just by stepping onto the playing field.

Here are the five quick hits from Wednesday morning.

1. Teenager's wonder strike lifts Türkiye to victory

A stunning long-range strike from teenager Arda Guler helped lift Türkiye to a 3-1 win in their Euro 2024 Group F opener against debutants Georgia, as they slugged it out in the pouring rain at a raucous Dortmund BVB Stadion.

Aged 19 years and 114 days, Guler became the youngest player to score on his debut at a Euros — beating Cristiano Ronaldo's record — in between goals for Türkiye from Mert Müldür and Kerem Akturkoglu, with Georges Mikautadze replying for Georgia.

The teenager's strike from long range came in the 65th minute when both sides were locked at 1-1.

From well outside the 18-yard box, Guler whipped a rocket off his left foot and curled it magnificently into the top corner.

Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili had no chance of parrying away the wonder strike, despite being at full stretch.

However, some may believe the strike was not as good as Türkiye's opener.

Müldür opened Türkiye's account with a right-foot strike which nearly put a hole through the back of the net.

2. Dortmund stadium leaks as fans fight in torrential rain

Türkiye and Georgia played out any early contender for match of the tournament, despite the driving rain in Dortmund.

A combined four goals, two of them brilliant individual efforts, were scored despite a torrential downpour which at times threatened flooding by the side of the pitch.

The rain leaked through the stadium before kick-off and never let up.

Ground staff worked feverishly around the stadium to clear as much water as they could, especially around the pitch which was beginning to flood.

Staff used brooms, a plank of wood and even their feet in an effort to push as much water down the struggling drains.

There were some unsavoury moments as the rain fell in the stands.

About 40 fans from each set of supporters were involved in brief scuffles, requiring police to move between them, a Reuters reporter inside the stadium said.

3. Ronaldo creates history by just stepping on the pitch

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to feature at six European Championship tournaments when he captained Portugal for its opening game against Czechia.

The 39-year-old, who made his tournament debut at Euro 2004, when Portugal reached the final, already had the records for the most goals (14) and appearances (25) before this year's edition of the Euros.

He helped Portugal win the title at Euro 2016, and was the joint-top scorer at Euro 2020, scoring five goals and threatening to score more during Portugal's win over Czechia.

But the five-time Ballon d'Or winner was denied a goal several times during his team's match overnight, meaning he will need to wait before opening his account at this year's tournament.

4. Son of legend makes his mark for Portugal With his first kick of the football, Francisco Conceição scored the stoppage-time winner to guide Portugal to a 2-1 win over Czechia.

The Czechs had stunned the Portuguese fans packed inside the Leipzig Stadium when they took the lead out of the blue in the 62nd minute as Lukas Provod's superb curling effort threatened to cause an almighty upset.

Yet the unfortunate Robin Hranac scored an own goal seven minutes later to set up a frantic finish.

Conceição came off the bench and mere seconds later had his shirt off in celebration after scoring the most important goal in his career to date.

The 21-year-old, son of Sérgio Conceição who was a star for Portugal during Euro 2000, pounced on a mistake from Hranac to fire home from close range in the third minute of added time.

As Conceição lifted the shirt from his body, a weight was also lifted off the shoulders of the Portuguese, who are one of the favourites for this year's tournament.

After staring down the prospect of a shock loss in their opening match, Portugal can now push forward in their campaign with a win under their belt.

5. Fans express national pride through 'food wars' First it was Albanian fans taunting their Italian rivals by snapping uncooked spaghetti in front of them.

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