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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 saw them qualify for the knockout stages.
It was chaotic, and yet that was just the beginning. In the frenzied aftermath, Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs handed out five yellow cards, which 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 curious thing was that five of the eighteen 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. What happened?
The match started well for the Czech Republic, who troubled Turkey's superior midfield technicians 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 bringing 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 escapes him and Hakan Calhanoglu quickly approaches, Barak extends his left leg in a desperate attempt to get the ball in front of 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 withdrew the game for a foul and gave Barak his second yellow card – the first sending-off in Euro history, beating former French defender Eric Abidal's record (24 minutes against Italy at Euro 2008).
The decision has divided experts and commentators, with Andros Townsend of British broadcaster ITV believing he had been mistreated.
“This one was even more baffling. He's got the ball; he's tapping it away,” Townsend said. “It's his follow-through that gets the Turkish player. You can always slow it down and freeze it, but in the end he has 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 was shown a yellow card in the 31st minute, the next card went to Czech striker Patrik Schick, who wasn't even on the pitch. The Bayer Leverkusen player was shown a yellow card for dissent and would have missed the Czech Republic's last 16 matches had they qualified, as he had been shown a yellow card earlier in the tournament.
Schick, the Czech Republic's all-time top scorer at the European Championships, was given a warning after strongly arguing that Ismail Yuksek should have been shown a yellow card for a powerful challenge on Lukas Provod, who was left writhing on the ground.
Yuksek won the ball back fairly easily, but given the controversial nature of Barak's second yellow card, he may have been right.
A few minutes later, Juventus winger Kenan Yildiz received Turkey’s second yellow card of the night. After beating West Ham full-back Vladimir Coufal, Yildiz lost the ball to centre-back Robin Hranac. Yildiz unleashed a tasty challenge on Hranac, who spun around rather dramatically.
If referee Yildiz had not given a yellow card, there would probably have been a 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 stunning opener in the 51st minute, Mert Muldur, Vitezslav Jaros, Lukas Cerv and reserve goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, who will miss Turkey's round of 16 match against Austria next Tuesday.
By the time injury time began at the end of the match, the European Championship record for cards in a single match had been far surpassed (14 yellows and one red, beating the previous record of 10). But it was after Tosun grabbed the winning goal that 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 object to Orkun Kokcu's fist-pumping in midfield.
Shortly afterwards, players and coaches ran onto the field from the sidelines to join a brawl that broke out halfway down the field.
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, the Turkish wunderkind striker who scored six goals in 10 league games for Real Madrid last season.
From a football perspective, this match was probably of little importance. But thanks to its glorious lawlessness, especially in its final moments, it now occupies a special place in Euro history.
(Top photo: Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images)
