Turkey boss Vincenzo Montella admits his side will have their work cut out against Austria in the Euro 2024 Round of 16.
Montella’s side only needed a point to ensure progress from Group F but battled to a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic on Wednesday night.
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They will now face the surprise Group D winners in Leipzig on Tuesday (8pm BST), although they will be without captain Hakan Calhanoglu, who scored their opening goal, after he was shown one of 16 yellow cards brandished in a match which has been branded the dirtiest in European Championship history.
“We hadn’t qualified from the group for many years, so we’re very happy,” Montella told uefa.com, whose nation made a fairytale run to the semi-finals at Euro 2008 before failing to qualify four years later and then failing to get out of their group in the last two editions in 2016 and 2020.
“We managed to overcome difficult situations,” he added. “We want to enjoy this victory. Starting on Thursday we will concentrate on the next match and aim to continue making history.
“Some of our players will not play in the Austria match, and we will feel their absence.”
Montella said Austria played like a club side under Ralf Rangnick and were worthy of their respect.
“We need to recover and we have six days ahead of us. In matches like these, we must control our emotions and be more careful in terms of ball control.
“Austria came out on top of a very tough group (which also featured France and the Netherlands). They are very fast, very fluid, a team worthy of great admiration.”
“Only three of the starting 11 today had played at a European Championship before. I hope our success in making it out of the group will relieve some pressure.”
