Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 8:51 PM• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk • Last update: 20:56

Turkey has converted the first exhibition match towards the European Championship into a win. The team of national coach Senol Günes was 2-1 too strong for Azerbaijan in the Bahçesehir Okullari Stadium on Thursday evening. All goals in Alanya were scored in the first half. Günes let Halil Dervisoglu make his international debut and the attacker rewarded the confidence with a goal from a free kick from Orkun Kökçü, who was also in the starting line-up.

After half an hour of play, the game was unbalanced. Just outside the right side of the penalty area, Abbas Huseynov gave a low pass to Emin Makhmudov, who aimed the ball nicely in the left corner behind goalkeeper Altay Bayindir. However, Turkey took care of the turnaround in the home port of Alanyaspor before the break.

From a free kick from Kökçü from the right, Dervisoglu worked the ball from close range behind Emil Balayev: 1-1. Just before half time, Turkey even took the lead. The Azerbaijan defense did not get the ball away after a corner, after which a weak shot by Merih Demiral could only be half turned by Balayev. It was Kaan Ayhan who was in the right place, working the ball up close against the ropes.

In the second half, the scoreboard did not move anymore. Dervisoglu was replaced by Enes Ünal after 67 minutes, while Kökçü was replaced by Abdülkadir Ömür in the same minute. Earlier this month, Günes announced a pre-selection of thirty players, of which four still have to drop out.

Turkey and Italy open the upcoming European Championship on Friday 11 June from 9 p.m. at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Three days later, Günes’ team awaits a match against Wales at the Olympic stadium in Baku. Turkey closes the group stage four days later in the same stadium against Switzerland.