Unlike the other seven matches in the Euro 2024 round of 16, Turkey takes on Austria, a clash between two "dark horse" teams of this tournament.
Both teams have deep German roots. Austria shares a border with Germany and is an ally of Germany, while Turkey has closer ties to Germany because Turkey is of descendants of 3 million Germans whose ancestors were brought to Germany after World War II to help Germany rebuild.
On paper, Austria is ranked 25th by FIFA and 42nd by Turkey by FIFA, with Austria being stronger than Turkey. But if the previous three group stage games are used as a reference to measure the strength of the two teams, then Turkey and Austria are not opponents at the same level.
Turkey were not as efficient in attack as Ralph Rangnick's side, scoring five goals and conceding five goals in the group stage, while Austria scored six goals and conceded four.
But in terms of attacking intensity and creating chances, Turkey is more dangerous than Austria.
In the first three matches of Euro 2024, Turkey launched 161 attacks and created 50 chances, 16 of which were on target. In comparison, Austria launched 123 attacks and created 31 chances, 17 of which were on target.
As you can see from the data, the match between Turkey and Austria will be extremely intense, especially since the managers of both sides are advocating attacking football. In the 17 meetings between the two teams before that, Austria won nine times and Turkey won seven.
The last meeting between the two teams was a friendly on 26 March 2024, when Austria won 6-1 with a goal from Christoph Baumgartner, who also scored in Austria's 3-1 win over Poland in the Euro 2024 group stage.
As the youngest team to compete at Euro 2024 so far, Turkey have scored five goals from five different players, none of which have come in self-inflicted own goals or penalties. Turkey ranked fourth with the fourth-highest number of shots on goal with an average of 16.67 shots per game.
The quarter-finals for the Turks will once again challenge Austria, the team that has beaten them in the past and is a near-perfect team.
Turkey coach Montella praised Ralph Lonnie's team for their aggressive fighting and fluid transitions.
Rangnick himself deserves praise. It was he who turned Austria into a dangerous team, even stealing top spot in a group that included France and the Netherlands.
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