Merih Demiral netted a brace to help Turkey secure a 2-1 win over Austria to secure their place in the quarter-finals of the Euro 2024.

In wet Leipzig, Merih Demiral emerged as Turkey’s unlikely hero, putting his team ahead in under a minute and then banging in the game-winning header just before the hour.

After defeating Romania 3-0 on Tuesday, Vincenzo Montella’s team—which was without banned captain Hakan Calhanoglu but was once again buoyed by a large crowd at the Zentralstadion—will play the Dutch in Berlin on Saturday.

In March, Austria defeated Turkey 6-1, and Montella acknowledged that he was seeking to exact revenge for that humiliating loss.

“I denied it yesterday but today I can admit that Austria was the team I wanted so that I could get rid of that stain that as a coach I had on me,” said Montella.

Turkey hopes to repeat their 16-year-old run to the final four, and they will once more have the support of their boisterous supporters in the German city.

Austria, who participated fully in an exciting match and might have won on another day, co-hosted that event.

The majority of the game saw Ralf Rangnick’s team leading, especially in the second half when they pinned Turkey back and gave up the second goal against all odds.

The 1998 World Cup saw Lilian Thuram of France score twice in the round of 32 of a major tournament; Al-Ahli center-back Demiral became the first defender from Europe to do so.

Soon after Demiral scored his fourth goal in 48 caps for his country, Stefan Posch’s flick on at another corner was forced in by Michael Gregoritsch, cutting the deficit in half.

However, Austria failed to capitalise on their superiority and lost after an outstanding save by Mert Gunok kept Christoph Baumgartner from tying the score in the last seconds of extra time.

“I believe if the game had gone into extra-time we would have won the game because the Turkish team were exhausted and we had a physical advantage,” Rangnick told reporters.