The Spanish team defeated the Georgian team and reached the quarterfinals of the ongoing European Football Championship in Germany. Sports – about the last fight of the Crusaders, who, after a sensational victory over Portugal, initially caused problems for one of the main favorites of Euro 2024 and can now be proud of their debut at the championship of the Old World.
Euro 202430 June 2024 • starts at 22:00Finished
SpainSpain4 : 1
GeorgiaGeorgia
39 ' • Rodrigo Hernandez (Nico Williams)
51' • Fabian Ruiz (Lamin Yamal)
75' • Nico Williams (Fabian Ruiz)
83' • Dani Olmo (Mikel Oyarzabal)
18' • Robin Le Normand (A)
See all goals
Unbroken vs undefeatedGerman Euro is the first major tournament that the Georgian team has reached. To light it up right away! Khvichi Kvaratskhelia's team played unsuccessfully with the Turks and ended peacefully with the Czechs, entering the match with the Portuguese as their last battle.
And a sensation happened. Cristiano Ronaldo and company by that time guaranteed themselves access to the playoffs from first place, so what happened on Wednesday can be explained by the relaxation of the Portuguese. But this does not make Georgia’s success any less valuable: two unanswered goals and third place, which gave Willy Sagnol’s team a ticket to the playoffs.
Top Khvicha, top scorer of the group stage Georges Mikautadze and goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili who made the most saves continue to rewrite history. The latter, by the way, included trash talk before the 1/8 finals and further fueled interest in the Sunday meeting at the Rhein-Energie arena in Cologne: “Khvicha is better than all of Spain. I won’t say that we will win the match, but we can give Spain a lot of trouble, even if they are the favorites of the tournament” (quoted by As).
I wonder how they reacted to this attack in the camp of the Furies of the Roja? We think with a smile. Unlike Georgia, which took third place in the quartet, Spain came out on top in the “group of death” with Italy, Croatia and Albania, winning all three matches and not conceding even once. And the Georgians have never defeated the Spaniards in official matches, losing at home with a score of 1:7 last fall as part of the Euro qualifier.
The miracles continued The total favorite immediately cut off Georgia's oxygen supply. The endless attacks on Mamardashvili’s goal were reminiscent of the onslaught of a losing team in the last minutes of the match. But it was only the debut of the confrontation in Cologne, and Spain had already shot at the opponent’s goal seven times (in total, they struck 17 shots in the half, repeating the Russian national team record set in 2008).
Georgia only needed one attack to open the scoring. In the 18th minute, Otar Kakabadze ran down the right flank and crossed into the penalty area to Khvicha. However, it was not the Napoli star who distinguished himself, but the top scorer of Euro 2024… An own goal! The ball hit Robin Le Normand and bounced off him right into the corner of Unai Simon's goal.
Spain did not panic – the Furia Roja remained faithful to playing as number one and continued endless approaches to the Georgian penalty area. Mamardashvili was at his best: he helped out twice, the save after a long-range volley by Mark Kukurelya was especially beautiful. But it still wasn’t possible to hold out until the break. Rodri put the ball into the corner from the penalty area, and the referees refused to call Alvaro Morata offside, as if it was interfering with the goalkeeper's view. br>
Spain turned on “killer mode” The second half started hotly. In the match against the Slovaks, England were almost sentenced to a kick from the center of the field – Khvicha wanted to do the same thing, who saw that Simon had gone far out of the goal and decided to throw the ball behind the goalkeeper's collar. Next to the barbell! Spain's response was tougher: Mamardashvili pulled away the shot of young Lamin Yamal, but the keeper who caught the courage failed to cope with Fabian Ruiz's header at point-blank range.
Taking the lead, Spain once again confirmed its highest level. She did not slow down, did not retreat to her goal to maintain the advantage – the favorite continued to advance. Yes, Georgia did not give up, but we no longer saw any truly dangerous moments at Simon’s goal.
The same cannot be said about the events in the Crusaders’ half of the field. The goal of 16-year-old Yamal was canceled due to an offside position (the guy gave an assist on Sunday, but still faced catastrophic bad luck), but the referees did not prevent Nico Williams from going one-on-one – the ball almost tore the net at the crossbar. And Dani Olmo put the finishing touches on the 83rd minute, hitting the bottom corner with a dribbling shot.
The main opening of Euro 2024Georgia, despite the major defeat, deserves the warmest words addressed to it. Arriving at the European Championship for the first time, the Sagnol players gave their best – reaching the playoffs can be called an amazing achievement.
There really was no chance of getting past such Spain.
A hidden final is ahead? The decisive match of the 2008 European Championship, the semi-final of the 2010 World Cup… A true classic of world football. In the quarterfinals, the Spaniards, who continue to demolish everything and everyone, will meet with another team showing a wonderful game. We are talking about the hosts of the tournament – the German national team. Are you ready for the hottest action of the quarterfinals? Considering how unconvincing the British and French are at the Euro, we would venture to assume that the winner of this pair will become the main contender for the trophy.
Spain – Germany
- When: July 5, 19:00 Moscow time.
- Where: “MHPArena”, Stuttgart.< /li>
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