Europe

BERLIN — An own goal by Mert Muldur completed a dramatic comeback for the Netherlands on Saturday as they overcame a tenacious Turkey 2-1 to book a Euro 2024 semi-final meeting with England.

The defender bundled the ball into his own net in the 76th minute under pressure from Cody Gakpo as the Dutch bounced back from a poor first-half display to win a bruising clash and complete the final four line-up.

10th own goal of Euro 2024

Gakpo wasn't giving up here

England defeated Switzerland on penalties (5-3) after a 1-1 stalemate to book a place in the Euro semifinals on Saturday. A Xherdan Shaqiri Olimpico effort nearly sunk England in extra time.

While Saturday’s result will be remembered for England’s brilliance from the penalty spot, we wanted to highlight how close Shaqiri was to scoring the goal of the tournament and arguably the goal of his career.

Europe's football body UEFA handed a two-match ban on Friday to Turkish soccer player Merih Demiral for his politically charged "wolf" celebration and fined England's Jude Bellingham $32,470 for a crotch-grabbing gesture at Euro 2024.

Center back Demiral, 26, will now miss Turkey's quarter-final on Saturday against the Netherlands, prompting his outraged government to call for the punishment to be rescinded.

FRANKFURT — German police are investigating a video appearing to show stadium personnel viciously beating a fan during the Portugal vs Slovenia Euro 2024 match.

The video, which Reuters has not been able to verify, shows a man in a steward's top repeatedly hitting someone in the face as colleagues restrain him in a Frankfurt Arena gangway. Two others kick and beat the man further when he falls to the floor.

Fan beaten at Euro game

LEIPZIG — Turkey's Merih Demiral struck in each half to guide his team to a high-octane 2-1 victory over Austria on Tuesday and book their spot in Euro 2024's last eight.

Amid pouring rain, Austria pulled a goal back when substitute Gregoritsch finished at the far post in the 66th but despite late pressure and a golden chance for Christoph Baumgartner, who was denied by a superb save from Mert Gunok in stoppage time, Rangnick's men could not find an equalizer.

Mert Gunok save vs Austria

MUNICH — Netherlands' Cody Gakpo scored his third goal of the European Championship and Donyell Malen added two more late on as the Dutch burst back into form with a lively display to defeat Romania 3-0 in their last-16 fixture on Tuesday.

Malen notched his second in stoppage time when he collected the ball in midfield, dribbled into the penalty area and fired past Nita as the Dutch served notice that they have started to click at the tournament.

Romania goalkeeper shoe incident

Germany’s 2-0 Round of 16 victory vs. Denmark experienced a delay in the first half due to some of the craziest severe weather we’ve seen at a professional soccer game.

Around the 34th minute the game was temporarily suspended due to lightning near the stadium in Dortmund. The players hovered around the field for several minutes before retreating to the locker room.

The suspension lasted around 25 minutes as intense lightning strikes lit up the sky, hail came down and waterfalls appeared in the stadium. Craziness.

BERLIN — A pair of superb strikes from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas for Switzerland sent defending champions Italy crashing out of the European soccer championship in the round of 16 after a sloppy, rudderless display by Luciano Spalletti's side.

Though the Swiss defended well, the Italians made their job all the easier with bad passing and poor-decision-making, giving the ball away cheaply in central positions and failing to press with any vigor as they headed for the exit.

Italy vs Switzerland highlights

FREIBURG — Belgian fans went too far with their angry reaction to the team’s draw against Ukraine in the European Championship, veteran defender Thomas Meunier said on Thursday.

Supporters booed and whistled their side after a dour 0-0 stalemate that set up a last-16 clash with France, and more derision rained down when captain Kevin De Bruyne was announced as the man of the match.

GELSENKIRCHEN — Georgia stunned Portugal to reach the knockouts at Euro 2024 - their first ever major tournament - with a 2-0 win over the former European champions on Wednesday, settled by an early Khvicha Kvaratskhelia strike and a Georges Mikautadze penalty.

The win, albeit against a largely second-string Portugal who had already made it into the next round, represented the greatest result for Georgia since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.