Recber Rustu saved the fourth Croatian penalty, giving Turkey the qualifying ticket to the semi-finals where they are set to face Germany. The former Barcelona goalkeeper fully-stretched to the left corner of the goal to save the penalty, leading to a 3-1 penalty shoot-out win after the match ended 1-1 with both goals getting scored in the second half of extra-time.
Euro 2008 is not the first competition that Rustu stars in. In World Cup 2002, Turkey finished third and Rustu was one of the stars of the team that 2002 World Cup champions Brazil struggled to beat twice (in the opener and the semi-finals of the cup).
And with his heroic saves last night against Croatia that enabled Turkey to advance to the semi-finals in yet another international competition, Rustu has played very well. However, it must be mentioned that the first goal that Turkey conceded was after a laughable act by our hero where Rustu left his goal and chased Luka Modric who was approximately on the edge of the penalty area; Modric crossed the ball and a Croatian head connected with the ball that went in the back of the net.
Reports linking the shaky Turkish keeper for a move back to Barcelona might be taken seriously though (with Victor Valdes in goal, any other goalkeeper would seem as a good replacement). However, it is highly unlikely that he would be moving to Barca after a horrific period at the Nou Camp that made Barca proud to have Valdes between the posts.
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3 months ago
Seriously, I really don't believe this. He is the worst goalkeeper ever. Did you see his mistakes? He almost cost Turkey three goals during that game. He goes up during Corner kicks, only to be surprised that he just caught nothing but AIR.
This is ridicoulous.
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