The Georgian team defeated the Portuguese team in the final match group stage and advanced to the playoffs, where they will meet the Spaniards. Sports correspondent — about the adventures of the Euro 2024 debutant, who on Wednesday created one of the main sensations of the tournament.
Euro 202426 June 2024 • starts at 22:00Finished
PortugalPortugal
02’ • Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georges Mikautadze)
57’ • Georges Mikautadze (P)
Debut at the European Championships! The first goal, the first points scored in tournaments of this rank. In recent days, there has been a real football boom throughout Georgia. In Tbilisi, a viewing of live broadcasts from Germany was organized at the stadium named after the legendary football player Mikheil Meskhi. On the day of the meeting with the Portuguese national team, the operation of buses running in the area of this arena was extended until two o'clock in the morning. This order was issued by the mayor's office of the Georgian capital. How could it be different when the mayor is the Georgian football star of the previous generation, Kakha Kaladze!
However, transferring the energy from the stands from Tbilisi to Gelsenkirchen is still problematic. On the eve of the group stage match at Euro 2024, which is decisive for the Georgian team, the vice-president of the Georgian Football Federation, ex-forward of the national team of this country, Alexander Iashvili, said: “It is very necessary that there are many of our fans at the stadium. It is not for nothing that they say that there are 12 fans 1st player and has amazing power! «
The Georgian team's chance lay in the fact that the Portuguese did not have tournament motivation in the final game of the group tournament. They have already secured their place in the playoffs from first place. The team's head coach Roberto Martinez made it clear at the pre-match press conference that he would send a semi-reserve squad to the game. Only he turned out to be more than half of the reserve. From the starting line-up for the game with the Turkish team, from the first minutes of the meeting with the Georgian national team, only goalkeeper Diego Costa, as well as Joao Pagliña and Cristiano Ronaldo came out. For him there are no games without motivation.
Before the decisive game of the group tournament, passions that were far from football were in full swing in the Georgian national team. Team captain Khvicha Kvaratskhelia came to the pre-match press conference. Naturally, he was asked about the scandalous interview, in which he spoke unflatteringly about the time spent at the Moscow Lokomotiv base and about plans related to the transition from Napoli to PSG. Khvicha refused to answer these questions and agreed to talk only about the upcoming game with the Portuguese team.
The idol of the star of today's Georgian football has always been Ronaldo, whom he first met in 2013. The Portuguese then came to Tbilisi for the opening of the Dynamo Academy. Khvic even took the same number as Cristiano. “I’m not nervous before meeting Ronaldo,” Kvaratskhelia said before the game. “On the contrary, I dreamed of playing against him. This is impossible in European competition now, and it will be nice to meet on the field at the national team level. I hope to get his T-shirt after the final whistle.”
The head coach of the Georgian national team, Frenchman Willy Sagnol, was simply driven crazy by journalists at a pre-match press conference, and he even called the reporters asking uncomfortable questions idiots. The questions were not about football. The French specialist was accused of not including forward Budu Zivzivadze, who plays for German Karlsruhe, in the team because of his political position. In one of his interviews, the footballer called Russia an enemy, recalling that his mother was forced to flee Abkhazia. However, he then asked to delete the harshest words. Zivzivadze also resolutely opposes the adoption of the law on foreign agents, which has divided Georgian society.““This is just ridiculous!” Sagnol was indignant at the press conference. “A few months ago I was criticized for benching Georges Mikautadze from the French Metz and putting Zivziadze in the starting lineup. And now they are reproaching me for the opposite. I’m a football player.” coach, and only I will decide who will play in the Georgian national team.»
Sagnol did not cite as an argument the fact that midfielders Giorgi Chakvetadze and Giorgi Kochorashvili, who also spoke out sharply against the adoption of the law on foreign agents, played in matches with the teams of Turkey and the Czech Republic. Only in the game with the Portuguese national team did Zivzivadze again remain on the bench. The pair of forwards were Kvaratskhelia and Mikautadze. Although the Georgian national team only needed a victory to continue competing at Euro 2024, playing as number one against a team with Ronaldo in its squad would be too much of a risk.
However, already at the opening of the meeting, the Georgians received a luxurious gift. This was almost the first time the Portuguese defense played with such a lineup and made a mistake in the second minute. In the center circle, Mikautadze intercepted the ball after an inaccurate pass from Antonio Silva. The top scorer of the French second division was not greedy and gave the ball to Kvaratskhelia. The captain of the Georgian national team hit Costa with a powerful shot, scoring his first goal at Euro 2024.
Although the Portuguese had no tournament motivation, losing is not in the tradition of Ronaldo, who led his attacking partners. In the 17th minute, Cristiano's long-range shot was parried by goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili. He didn't dare catch the ball. Midway through the first half, Ronaldo received a yellow card for arguing with the referee. The Portuguese captain tried to prove that he was grabbed by the T-shirt during a corner kick by defender Luka Lochoshvili.
Only the Swiss judge Sandro Scherer was not affected by the authority of a participant in six European Championships. As did the artistry of Pedro Neto, who tried to beg for a penalty. Upon contact with the defender of the Georgian team, the Portuguese collapsed as if knocked down. And received a yellow card for simulation. In this, the Portuguese are ahead of everyone at Euro 2024. In two previous meetings, Rafael Leau received a warning for simulation.
At the beginning of the second half, the Portuguese staged a real siege of Mamardashvili's goal. Ronaldo had a good moment, Danilo Pereira had an even better one. In the 54th minute, the goalkeeper simply saved the Georgian team from an inevitable goal when Diogo Dalot curled the ball into the top corner. Mamardashvili saved his goal with a spectacular jump.
And just a few minutes later the famous football rule came into play. It certainly wasn't Antonio Silva's day. After a mistake in the opening of the match, which led to the first goal, the defender of the Portuguese national team in his own penalty area, trying to play the ball, hit Lochoshvili in the leg. Mikautadze came to the point and scored his third goal at the Euro. A two-goal advantage was already a bid for victory, which guaranteed the Georgian team access to the playoffs.
In the 66th minute, Martinez replaced Ronaldo, who, we recall, had a yellow card. The head coach of the Portuguese team used all five substitutions, giving the reservists the opportunity to take part in the siege of Mamardashvili’s goal. Only the counterattacks of the Georgian team were much more dangerous, and they had more chances to score the third goal than the Portuguese had the first. Nelson Samedu got a real chance to break the score in stoppage time, but Mamardashvili played brilliantly again. Diogo Jota also failed to score, as he heeled the ball into the goal and missed by just a few centimeters. Mamardashvili managed to make another save and kept his goal intact.
One can only imagine how the historic victory was celebrated in Tbilisi at that time. It’s time for Kaladze to issue a decree to extend the operating hours of city transport and open points this night where fans of the national team could celebrate the success of their favorites. But Zivzivadze never took part in the historic victory. The composition of the Georgian national team is determined by coach Sagnol.
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