Montella needs Turkey to keep heads with revenge against Austria in sight
Turkey are better on the front foot as they showed in their opening victory against Georgia. Photograph: Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse/Shutterstock
The footage is enough to inflict sleepless nights upon anyone following Turkey. They were pulverised by Austria three months ago in Vienna and the knives were immediately out for Vincenzo Montella. It was always going to be that way after losing 6-1 and the question took no time in coming: would he quit? “I want to ask you this, do you resign when asking a wrong question?” he responded. “It is an unnecessary provocation.”
That was a no, then. Montella remains firmly in situ and has a new opportunity to find the right answers in Leipzig on Tuesday night. The stakes are infinitely higher, a quarter-final spot the prize, and the lessons are there to be acted upon. For starters exhibit one showed what not to do against Ralf Rangnick’s team, Salih Ozcan dwelling on the ball inside 100 seconds and a hurtling Romano Schmid pressing him into oblivion to create the opening goal.
Sleep on the job from kick-off and Austria’s relentless tempo will overwhelm you. But Turkey have an intensity of their own and it is why this, a textbook clash of dark horses that has extra piquancy given the clear opportunity this side of the draw holds, may be the most absorbing tie in this round of 16. All three of their games have been events: raucous, involved, visceral, celebrated around German cities many miles from the venues themselves. Montella’s players have fed from the energy and the task, faced with Austria’s clarity, is to use it in their favour.
Maybe the embarrassment dished out in March can be deployed positively, too. A number of Montella’s players have cited it as motivation since the rematch was confirmed and the manager himself, speaking on Monday, described it as “a humiliating result on a personal level”. But he also pointed out that the slate gets wiped clean now. “That was another match, and this one is a different matter,” he said. “Ralf Rangnick knows this, too.”
Turkey must channel any impulses towards retribution in the right way and that topic had clearly been of concern to Montella. “The first issue is to make sure we don’t let emotions get the better of us and don’t try to avenge that defeat,” he said. “You can have your minds clouded and it can affect your concentration.”
Montella arrived at his pre-match press conference armed with statistics. Among those he reeled off were that Turkey have taken the third-highest number of shots per game at Euro 2024 and were also third in the table for completed dribbles. They are certainly better on the front foot, as they showed during the basketball-like opener with Georgia, but he admitted they must be more clinical in the knockout stage.
He also lamented the loss of his captain, Hakan Calhanoglu, who will be suspended after collecting a second yellow card of the tournament against Czech Republic. “He’s irreplaceable,” Montella said. The defender Samet Akaydin is banned for similar reasons. Turkey’s 16 bookings put them comfortably on top of that particular ranking and they can ill afford a repeat of the scenes that closed that win over the Czechs, which saw Montella run onto the pitch after full-time to prevent Arda Guler from landing in hot water. The Real Madrid player’s significance may heighten in Calhanoglu’s absence.
For all the talk of behavioural management, Austria have an idea of what will hit them. “We know Turkey are a team that will include emotions,” Rangnick said. “So we need the highest level of energy and we also need to be there with our hearts, and strong in energy, as that is what it will be all about.”
For Rangnick and Austria there is the comfort of familiarity. He was famously the architect of RB Leipzig’s rise through the German leagues and allowed himself a touch of nostalgia. “I remember in 2012 when I started here and we played against the second team of Union Berlin,” he said. Austria had put up Christoph Baumgartner and Nicolas Seiwald, who play here for what is now a leading Bundesliga club, alongside their manager to present a concentrated local flavour.
“It’s something special when you walk into the stadium and just feel at home,” said Baumgartner, who came off the bench to set up Marcel Sabitzer’s winner against the Netherlands and should replace the suspended winger Patrick Wimmer. When it was suggested he must know every blade of grass on the surface he has graced since signing from Hoffenheim a year ago, he instantly pointed out it was recently named the division’s pitch of the season.
Austria begin games thunderously. They have scored during the first 10 minutes in six of their past seven games and Baumgartner knows the value of repeating the breakneck opening sequence from this fixture’s last iteration. “We want to give 100%, start aggressively, pressing high, not necessarily waiting to get the perfect pass to try and shoot,” he said. “It’s all about being energetic and just going to the opponent’s goal. It’s not a coincidence that we have had good starts until now.”
It all promises a rattling encounter and, once everything has died down, perhaps a first quarter-final for a slick Austria. But Turkey may find a very different experience in Vienna offers an appealing precedent. In 2008 they won on penalties at the Ernst Happel Stadion, scene of the much-mentioned shellacking, against Croatia after famously equalising at the very end. That took them to the last four and victory here would put them on the verge of a repeat.
“We know what we have to do, and that has to be our mindset.” Montella said. “The rest is all gossip. Talk is cheap.”