E-Paper
Two In One: Great moment in European football as the Lionel Messi of Turkey does a Cristiano Ronaldo
Attacker Arda Guler, known as the Messi of Turkey, on Tuesday must have been under immense pressure considering the magnitude of the occasion.
Life can’t be easy when one is compared with the one and only Lionel Messi. For one thing, the spotlight is forever on you. And then you are forever under pressure to deliver. Often such comparisons turn out to be exaggerated. Let’s face it: footballers like Lionel Messi are not born every other day or not even every other decade, as a matter of fact.
Attacker Arda Guler, known as the Messi of Turkey, on Tuesday must have been under immense pressure considering the magnitude of the occasion. He was making his Euros debut just like their opponents, Georgia. And then when you have been labelled the Messi of Turkey, things can be very unnerving. But as they say "cometh the hour, cometh the man", the teenager born in Altındağ left football fans in awe with a strike that was in line with all the hype surrounding him leading into the game.
At the Signal Iduna Park, the 19-year-old curled in a screamer from way outside the box to send Turkey into a 2-1 lead and become the youngest to score on Euros debut -- they eventually won 3-1. Turkey’s opener was scored by Mert Mulder in the first half which was also a great goal. Turkish fans would haven’t had the inkling that a better-looking goal awaits them later in the match. Guler gave them that with his strike in the 65th minute.
Guler plays for Spanish giants Real Madrid, the biggest club in the world for sure. Those who follow the game passionately would know Real have an extraordinary scouting team in place. If the scouts there believed Guler was good, he was good. Full stop!
Guler joined Los Blancos last year in July from Fenerbahce where he rose through the ranks to the senior team in 2021. Gençlerbirliği is another club where he honed his football skills -- before joining Fenerbahce in 2019.
His Real stint, however, got off on the wrong foot thanks to the several injuries he picked up there. He waited months before making his debut for them, which came early this year in a Copa del Rey game. He went on to play five La Liga games and scored five goals, including one on his La Liga debut, in what was a trophy-winning campaign for Carlo Ancelotti’s men. Early this month when Real also won the Champions League, Guler became the first Turkish player to win Europe’s best club competition.
Because the 2023-24 season didn’t turn out the way he would have hoped for, Euro 2024 was very important for him. Donning Jersey No.8 when he slid on his knees after scoring the goal with his left foot, one could see how the goal mattered to him. It was for the third time in history that a teenager had scored a goal on his first Euros appearance. And the last time somebody had done it, Guler wasn’t born yet.
Yes, it was Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal in 2004. Until Tuesday, the Portugal superstar also held the record for the youngest scorer on Euros debut. Guler may be drawing comparisons with Messi in terms of how he plays, he is now also indelibly connected to Ronaldo through his feat.
Renowned football commentator Guy Mowbray spoke of him in glowing terms: "The Turkish Messi has delivered -- what a tournament this is becoming for the youngsters.” Former England defender Stephen Warnock was equally impressed with what he saw. "Earlier on in the game we saw Arda Guler roaming round the pitch seeing those nice touches that he possesses. The moment of magic that we saw with the goal was quite brilliant -- that is only a glimpse of what he can do," he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Guler and Turkey face a much bigger test on Saturday when they play Ronaldo’s Portugal. And then on Wednesday night they play the Czech Republic, who lost to Portugal on Tuesday night. If Guler passes these very important tests, we would then know for sure that the Messi comparisons were not exactly exaggerated.
Guler has started very well catching the imaginations of football fans worldwide with what he did against Georgia. As a result, expectations have risen manifold now. It will be interesting to how see how he fares against those two great footballing nations. At this moment though, the sky is the limit for him.
