How Czech Republic v Turkey became the dirtiest match in European Championship history

As Cenk Tosun completed a seven-on-four counter-attack in injury time, the Turkish bench rose from their seats to celebrate a 2-1 victory that secured qualification for the knockout stages.

It was chaotic, and yet that was just the beginning. In the crazy aftermath, Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs handed out five yellow cards, meaning the record set twenty minutes earlier for the most cards awarded in a single match at a European Championship.

Of the 18 cards shown, 16 were yellow and two were red. The most remarkable thing is that five of the 18 cards were given to players who were not even on the playing field.

It was by far the dirtiest match in the history of the European Championship. So what happened?

The match started well for the Czech Republic, who wrong-footed Turkey’s technical midfielders with a man-to-man pressing system.

Then came a setback: a yellow card in the 11th minute for Antonin Barak. Kovacs rightly punished the Fiorentina midfielder for dragging down left-back Ferdi Kadioglu.

That should have been the signal for Barak to take it easy for the rest of the match and avoid risky tackles, but the 29-year-old would have none of it.

In the 20th minute, after Barak made a clever pass following a foul by Ismail Yuksek, he was quickly caught by two Turkish midfielders near the halfway line.

As the ball passed away from him and Hakan Calhanoglu rapidly closed in, Barak stuck out his left foot in a desperate attempt to grab it for Salih Ozcan.

Ozcan won the race and Barak stepped on his foot, leaving him in a heap. After initially giving the advantage to Turkey, Kovacs called off the game for a foul and gave Barak his second yellow card – the first sending off in Euro history, beating the record of former French defender Eric Abidal (24 minutes against Italy at Euro 2008).

The decision divided pundits and commentators, with Andros Townsend of British broadcaster ITV believing he had been treated harshly.

“This one was even more astonishing. He’s got the ball; he taps it away,” Townsend said. “It’s his follow-through that appeals to the Turkish player. You can always slow it down and freeze it, but eventually he’s got the ball.”

Either way, a player of Barak’s experience should know not to take any risks in midfield in a must-win match as he has already been booked.

After Ozcan received a yellow card in the 31st minute, the next card went to Czech striker Patrik Schick, who was not even on the field. The Bayer Leverkusen player was booked for dissent and would have missed the Czech Republic’s last 16 matches had they qualified, having been booked earlier in the tournament.

Schick, the Czech Republic’s all-time leading scorer at the European Championship, was given a warning after emphatically arguing that Ismail Yuksek should have been shown a yellow card for a hard foul on Lukas Provod, who was then writhing on the ground.

Yuksek won the ball fairly easily, but given the controversial nature of Barak’s second yellow card, he might have been right.

A few minutes later, Juventus winger Kenan Yildiz received Turkey’s second yellow card of the evening. After beating West Ham full-back Vladimir Coufal, Yildiz lost the ball to centre-back Robin Hranac. Yildiz left a tasty challenge on Hranac, who spun around quite dramatically.

If referee Yildiz had not shown a yellow card, there might have been mutiny in the Czech dugout.

Between that decision and the real drama that unfolded after the final whistle, yellow cards were handed out to Calhanoglu, who scored Turkey’s brilliant opener in the 51st minute, Mert Muldur, Vitezslav Jaros, Lukas Cerv and reserve goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, who will will miss Turkey’s match in the round of 16 against Austria next Tuesday.

By the time injury time began at the end of the match, the Euro record for cards in a match had been comfortably eclipsed (14 yellows and one red, better than the previous record of 10). But after Tosun grabbed the winner, the real drama began.

With the Czech Republic heading home, Turkey’s exuberant celebrations at the final whistle proved too much for many of their players, with West Ham’s Tomas Soucek the first to take exception to Orkun Kokcu’s fist-pumping in the middle of the pitch.

Shortly after, players and coaches ran onto the field from the sidelines to join in a scuffle that broke out at the halfway line.

A red card – the second of the night for the Czech Republic – was then shown to Viktoria Plzen striker Tomas Chory, who had become involved in a physical altercation with Mert Gunok, Turkey’s No. 1 goalkeeper.

As the referee struggled to maintain control, he handed out yellow cards to Soucek and Arda Guler, Turkey’s child prodigy striker who scored six goals in 10 league appearances for Real Madrid last season.

From a football perspective, this match probably had little consequence. But thanks to its glorious lawlessness, especially in the final moments, it now occupies a special place in the history of the euro.

(Top photo: Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images)