Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Georgia vs Portugal from Group F of Euro 2024. Portugal, having already qualified with six points from two games, may refresh their starting Xi to afford us a glimpse of Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos, Diogo Jota et al but Georgia, for whom only a win would take them into the knockout stages, will stick with their strongest team, giving us a chance to watch the wonderful Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Georges Mikautadze again.
Had the substitute Saba Lobzhanidze of Atlanta United scored the winning goal against Czech Republic with the last kick of the game as he should have done instead of blazing over, they would have needed only a point and possibly not even that to go through which would be a remarkable effort from a rugby-mad country making its debut at a major tournament. Having said that, Georgia have a fine track record of producing skilful players, none better than those Dinamo Tbilisi hall of famers Ramaz Shengelia and Aleksandre Chivadze of the 1980s side and later Temur Ketsbaia of Newcastle hoarding-kicking fame and Man City’s Georgi Kinkladze, the Alberto Tomba of Moss Side.
Georgia head coach Willy Sagnol believes his side are unfortunate to have only one point from their performances in the first two matches. “If, before the competition, we would have been told maybe on your third match you will still have the possibility to qualify, I think we would all have signed these documents immediately,” Sagnol said.
Georgia’s talisman Khvicha Kvaratskhelia thinks his side might be able to take advantage of the fact Portugal were guaranteed to finish top of Group F. “Of course, it will be a very tough game,” he said. “But psychologically and motivation-wise, we are more motivated than Portugal because Portugal is already through to the round of 16.”
Kvaratskhelia is hoping to fulfil a childhood dream of playing against Cristiano Ronaldo, but was adamant Georgia would not be over-awed. “It doesn’t really matter, the names or surname of football players,” he said. “We are there to win and this is what we have demonstrated versus the Czech Republic and Turkey.”
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
