Portugal secured top spot in Group F at Euro 2024. Check out the best facts, stats and Opta data with our Turkey vs Portugal stats page.
Portugal sealed top spot in Group F at Euro 2024 with a game to spare after easing to a 3-0 win against a mistake-riddled Turkey in Dortmund.
Bernardo Silva started things off with his first ever goal at a major tournament for Portugal, before a bizarre Samet Akaydin own goal and a Bruno Fernandes tap-in sealed things.
Turkey still have a strong chance of advancing along with Portugal after Georgia and Czech Republic only drew earlier on Saturday, but they will need to play better than this in their final game against the Czechs.
Turkish fans turned the famous ‘Yellow Wall’ at Signal Iduna Park into a red and white one, and they created quite an atmosphere in the early stages.
After Vincenzo Montella had trusted some of his promising teenagers in the 3-1 win over Georgia on Matchday 1, he turned to more experience to take on Portugal. Wingers Arda Güler and Kenan Yildiz were named on the bench, replaced by Kerem Aktürkoglu and Yunus Akgün. The starting lineup’s average age was still almost three years younger than Portugal’s (26 years, 315 days to 29 years, 121 days), though.
Turkey had a glorious chance to take the lead in the sixth minute when Zeki Çelik crossed for Aktürkoglu, but he couldn’t force the ball home under pressure from João Cancelo at the back post.
It was Portugal who took the lead after 21 minutes when Rafael Leão fed Nuno Mendes down the left. Mendes’ low cross was deflected by Orkun Kökçü into the path of Silva, who slammed the ball past Altay Bayindir. It was the Manchester City man’s first goal involvement for his country in a major tournament (World Cup/Euros), having previously gone 14 games without a single goal or assist.
If that didn’t dampen the early enthusiasm of the Turkish fans, the second Portuguese goal certainly did. After Roberto Martínez’s men had made a mess of an attack when Cancelo failed to find the run of Cristiano Ronaldo, Akaydin passed the ball back to Bayindir without looking. The problem was the goalkeeper wasn’t where his defender thought he was, and the ball rolled past him and over the line to double Portugal’s lead in farcical fashion.
It was only the second own goal from outside the box in European Championship history, after Pedri’s in Spain’s 5-3 win over Croatia at Euro 2020.
Portugal took a 2-0 lead into the break after a first half that saw five players booked, the most in the first half of a game at the Euros since Greece vs Spain at Euro 2004.
One of those was shown to Leão for diving. The Milan winger has now received more yellow cards for simulation than any other player at the European Championship since records began (1980), having been booked for it in both of his Euro 2024 appearances. He will be suspended for Portugal’s clash with Georgia on MD3.
Montella will have hoped his team would have learned their lessons from the first half, but just 10 minutes into the second half a sloppy defensive line kept Ronaldo onside and allowed him to run onto a ball over the top from half-time substitute Rúben Neves. The Portugal captain unselfishly squared to Fernandes for a simple finish, putting the game to bed.
It was an interesting choice from Ronaldo to pass instead of shoot. He now hasn’t scored against Turkey in four appearances, only playing as often against Albania without finding the back of the net for Portugal.
In typical Ronaldo fashion, though, he still broke a record in the process. The 39-year-old moved ahead of Karel Poborsky (6) as the clear leader for most assists on record in the European Championship (since 1968), with seven.
Real Madrid prodigy Güler – who scored a stunning goal in Turkey’s MD1 win over Georgia – was brought on for the final 20 minutes, but it was a man 22 years his senior who arguably stole the show.
Pepe, at 41 years old, not only broke his own recent record of being the oldest player to play a European Championship game, but he was also possibly the best player on the pitch. The former Real Madrid centre-back made seven clearances, at least three more than any other player, as well as winning possession four times and making two tackles, while he completed 63 of his 65 passes (96.9%) before coming off in the 82nd minute.
Portugal closed out a routine victory and can already look forward to their last-16 tie against a third-place team from either Group A, B or C. With their pairing of young stars and old heads, they look primed to be a force to be reckoned with in Germany.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Turkey vs Portugal stats from their Euro 2024 Group F clash at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Turkey vs Portugal: Post-Match Facts
- Cristiano Ronaldo’s assist for Portugal’s third goal was his seventh at the UEFA European Championship – the most on record (since 1968) of any player in the competition’s history.
- Portugal have won both of their group-stage games so far in Euro 2024, more than they did in the 2016 and 2020 editions combined (W1 D4 L1). It’s the third time they’ve won their opening two games at a single edition of the competition, after Euro 2000 and Euro 2008.
- Turkey suffered their 11th defeat in the group stages of the European Championship, with only Denmark (13) having more such losses in the history of the competition.
- Bruno Fernandes has been involved in 28 goals in his last 23 appearances for Portugal in all competitions, scoring 15 and assisting 13.
- Turkey’s Samet Akaydin scored the second own goal from outside the box in European Championship history, after Pedri from Spain vs Croatia in Euro 2020.
- Bernardo Silva scored his 12th goal for Portugal in all competitions (91st appearance), and his first at a major tournament (15th appearance, Euros/World Cup).
- Portugal’s Rafael Leão received his second yellow card of Euro 2024, with both of them for diving. He’s the only player on record (since 1980) to have multiple cards for simulation in the European Championship.
- This was Portugal’s joint-biggest victory in a match at the European Championship, level with 3-0 wins against Croatia (1996), Germany (2000) and Hungary (2020).
Enjoy this? Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.