Euro 2024: Arda Guler makes history as Turkey beats Georgia 3-1 in a thrilling encounter

Turkey began its Euro 2024 campaign with a 3-1 win against tournament debutant Georgia in the first match of Group F at the BVB Stadion Dortmund on Tuesday.

Mert Müldür opened the scoring for Turkey in the 25th minute, with a superb volley from the edge of the box. Two minutes later, Turkey thought that it had doubled the lead through Kenan Yildiz, but the goal was ruled out after VAR found that Yildiz was offside.

Georgia equalised through Georges Mikautadze who made history by scoring his nations first-ever European Championship goal.

AS IT HAPPENED | TURKEY VS GEORGIA HIGHLIGHTS, EURO 2024

In the second half, Arda Guler scripted history when he scored the winning goal for Turkey.

Guler took possession of the ball along the right side of the midfield, shifted to his left and hit a left-footed curler that kissed the net, leaving debutant Georgia gobsmacked.

With the goal, he became the youngest player to score on his debut at a European Championship finals (19 years and 114 days), surpassing the record set by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2004, at 19 years and 128 days. 

Kerem Akturkoglu capped off the game by shooting the ball into an empty net after the Georgian keeper left his goal in the dying seconds of the match to come forward for a corner.