The crucial match to decide the top spot in Group D of the Euro 2024 qualifiers was intense and dramatic right from the early minutes.
Marcelo Brozović was the first to receive a yellow card in the 12th minute after an unlawful tackle, leaving the referee with no choice but to show him the card.
The away team refused to back down, and just four minutes later, Baris Alper Yilmaz equalized the score at 1-1 with a rather aggressive challenge.
In a surprising turn of events in the 30th minute, Yilmaz broke the deadlock with an unstoppable shot, assisted by S. Ozcan. This turned out to be the first and only goal of the match, as neither team managed to breach their opponent’s defense for the remainder of the game.
Despite dominating and controlling the game in the second half, the Croatian home team couldn’t find a way to score.
For Turkey, one goal was more than enough to satisfy them, and they even created some dangerous situations with robust challenges directed towards Croatia.
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With this sweet victory, Turkey has climbed to the top position in the standings, surpassing Croatia by 3 points.
After 6 matches, Turkey now holds 13 points, which is 3 more than Croatia, but they have played one more game than Luka Modrić’s team.
