SOCCER-TURKEY'S GULER STARTS ON BENCH AGAINST PORTUGAL

DORTMUND, Germany (Reuters) -Turkey teenager Arda Guler will start on the bench in their Euro 2024 match against Portugal on Saturday with Yunus Akgun as one of four new faces brought in by manager Vincenzo Montella after their opening win over Georgia.

Goalkeeper Altay Bayindir replaced Mert Gunok who sustained a minor injury in training while Zeki Celik and Kerem Akturkoglu will also start with Kenan Yildiz and Mert Muldur moving to the bench.

Midfielder Joao Palhinha will make his first start at Euro 2024 after Portugal manager Roberto Martinez dropped Diogo Dalot to the bench, abandoning his system of deploying three central defenders and reverting to a back four.

Cristiano Ronaldo leads Portugal as a striker.

Turkey: Altay Bayindir; Ferdi Kadioglu, Samet Akaydin, Abdulkerim Bardakci, Zeki Celik; Hakan Calhanoglu (c), Kaan Ayhan; Yunus Akgun, Ferdi Kadioglu, Orkun Kokcu; Baris Alper Yilmaz.

Portugal: Diogo Costa; Joao Cancelo, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Nuno Mendes; Joao Palhinha, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha; Cristiano Ronaldo (c), Rafael Leao.

(Reporting by William Schomberg and Fernando Kallas, editing by Ed Osmond)

2024-06-22T15:20:51Z dg43tfdfdgfd