Turkey held France to a 1-1 draw at the Stade de France in their Match Day 8 Euro 2020 Group H qualifier.
The draw helped Turkey remain top of the group on 19 points, ahead of France – who are also on 19 points – on head to head results.
Turkey have taken four points off the world champions in the group winning the home game 2-0 before drawing on Monday evening.
The Crescent-Stars setup defensively against the French and their game plan to shut out the home side worked until second-half substitute Olivier Giroud opened the scoring.
Several Turkish players celebrated with a soldier salute which head coach Senol Gunes explained after the game in his post-match press conference: “Like all countries, we don’t want our soldiers to be deployed. It’s just a mark of support to our soldiers. It’s a gesture of support. As for the rest, these are questions for [US President] Donald Trump or [French President] Emmanuel Macron – I’m only the national team coach.”
Kaan Ayhan equalised for Turkey five minutes later as he glanced a superb free-kick delivery from Hakan Calhanoglu from the right past Steve Mandanda.
France dominated throughout the game with 64 percent of possession and 23 shots but struggled to really open up a stubborn Turkey defence which has kept six clean sheets and conceded just three goals over the course of the qualification campaign.
Turkey face Iceland and Andorra next in November requiring just a point to secure qualification.
France 1-1 Turkey
Stadium: Stade de France
Referee: Felix Brych, Mark Borsch, Stefan Lupp (Almanya)
France: Mandanda, Pavard, Varane, Lenglet, Hernandez, Tolisso, Sissoko, Coman (min. 87 Ikone), Griezmann, Matuidi (min. 77 Lemar), Ben Yedder (min. 72 Giroud)
Turkey: Mert Günok, Mehmet Zeki Çelik (min. 53 Kaan Ayhan), Merih Demiral, Çağlar Söyüncü, Umut Meraş, Mahmut Tekdemir, Okay Yokuşlu (min. 46 Hakan Çalhanoğlu), Ozan Tufan (min. 81 Cenk Tosun), İrfan Can Kahveci, Kenan Karaman, Burak Yılmaz
Yellow Cards: min. 49 Hernandez, min. 81 Griezmann (Fransa), min. 85 Cenk Tosun, min. 87 Kenan Karaman, İrfan Can Kahveci (Turkey)
Goals: min. 76 Giroud (France), min. 82 Kaan Ayhan
