After his dream goal in his European Championship debut, Turkish wonderkid Arda Güler is already being compared to the great Lionel Messi. The 19-year-old could become one of the stars of the tournament.
Arda Güler was still smiling blissfully on the team bus while his country’s media had already elevated him to a national hero after his dream goal on his debut in the European Championship. The 19-year-old surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo, evoked memories of Lionel Messi and became the first great discovery of the tournament with his beautiful left foot, which Toni Kroos had already spoken about.
“He won’t be the player of the match, but the player of Euro 2024“, enthusiastically commented the Turkish broadcaster TRT Spor after his spectacular long-range shot in the 3-1 victory over Georgia. In Spain, where Güler plays for Real Madrid, Marca called him the “Turkish Messi“, while in England the Guardian headlined:“Arda Güler brings the thunder as Turkey weathers the storm“.
Relive the match: Türkiye vs Georgia
Important dream goal
The all-important 2-1 goal in the 65th minute, when Güler struck the ball beautifully into the corner from 26 metres, left even the creator of the work of art in disbelief: “I’m experiencing incredible emotions right now. I’ve always dreamed of scoring a goal like this. I wanted to make the people here happy“, said Güler, who dedicated the victory to his coach Vincenzo Montella on his 50th birthday:“We wanted to give this gift to our coach“.
But Güler also gave himself a gift. At 19 years and 114 days, he became the youngest player to score a debut goal in a European championship, surpassing a certain CR7, who had scored in the 2004 European Championship at the age of 19 years and 128 days. But when asked about the record, the winger played it down: “I’m not interested in personal success“.
However, the Turkish super talent earned the spotlight: after his move to Madrid in the summer of 2023, Güler was out for a long time due to injury and started playing regularly very late, but scored six goals in ten games in the second half of the season. And, not surprisingly, someone had predicted the striker’s breathtaking potential: Toni Kroos.
The German director of Real, who will end his career after the European Championship and who recently won the Champions League with Güler, had predicted, even before the end of the season, what could have happened: “It must be said that he is a great talent for his age. He has a very, very delicious left foot. You will hear a lot about him“. About a year later, all of Europe is talking about Arda Güler’s golden left foot.
