Guler lays down Madrid marker with stunning goal for Turkiye

With Kylian Mbappe about to join a throng of attacking superstars at Real Madrid, Arda Guler faces an even tougher fight to break through into Europe's top team.

The Turkish teenager certainly made his case during his explosive international tournament debut on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old Guler enhanced his reputation as one of Europe's brightest young talents by curling home a brilliant second-half goal to help Turkiye beat tournament debutant Georgia 3-1 in a European Championship thriller.

Guler brought the strong finish of his first season at Real Madrid to the Euros by cutting in from the right and bending a fierce shot into the top corner in the 65th minute, regaining the lead for Turkiye at 2-1 to become the youngest ever debut scorer at the Euros — surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2004.

Substitute Kerem Akturkoglu scored a breakaway goal in the final seconds of stoppage time for Turkiye's third, settling a back-and-forth Group F match in Dortmund, which saw fan disorder before kickoff and was played in the most febrile and intense atmosphere.

This was a nation-stopping moment for Georgia, a South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people that is making its debut in an international soccer tournament since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Georgia's players dealt admirably with an intimidating atmosphere created by Turkish fans and responded to Mert Muldur's stunning volleyed finish for Turkiye in the 25th minute with an equalizer by Georges Mikautadze in the 32nd.

Guler's intervention was crucial, though, and it was the latest in a string of outside-of-the-area strikes at these Euros. It also was another demonstration of his talent that was on display when he scored five goals in five games to finish a Spanish league season, which he missed the majority of due to injury. He was an unused substitute in Madrid's recent Champions League win in London earlier this month.

Whether he finds game time even harder to come by next season, following the arrival of Mbappe and Brazil forward Endrick, remains to be seen. Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, though, will be aware he has a gem on his hands in Guler.

Georgia, the lowest-ranked nation at Euro 2024 at No 75, could easily have snatched a point from a game played at a frenetic pace that never showed signs of abating.

In stoppage time, and with its goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili upfield in search of an equalizing goal, Georgia whipped in a free kick that evaded everyone and struck the post before a shot from the rebound was cleared off the line.

The resulting corner — sent in with Mamardashvili still in the Turkiye box — was cleared and Akturkoglu had acres of green to run through unchallenged, sidefooting the ball into an empty net.

The final whistle was blown upon the restart and Turkish players gathered in front of their jubilant fans to celebrate. At the last Euros, Turkiye arrived as many pundits' highly fancied outsiders and flopped, losing all three of its group games.

This time could be different, with Italian coach Vincenzo Montella having selected an exciting squad with the second-youngest average age at the tournament.

Guler is the shining light among them, his goal capping a performance that saw him set up five chances in total, and excel with technique and creativity.

Georgia's superstar is Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and the Napoli winger was kept relatively quiet, until the last few minutes when he was involved in many of his team's attacks.

Georgia wound up hitting the goal frame twice in that frantic late wave — Kochorashvili also did so after a solo run — and its players, spent, fell to the ground in despair at the final whistle.

Agencies Via Xinhua