It began sensationally, as a result of with an personal objective by the Spaniards. The stands of the stadium in Cologne, the place Georgian followers have been sitting in massive numbers, exploded with pleasure. However that was the final second of their Georgians, as a result of then the gamers from the Iberian Peninsula took the ground, scoring 4 objectives towards their rivals and confidently superior to the quarterfinals. In that place they may face the hosts of the event – Germany.
Rodri’s pleasure after scoring a objective towards Georgia /ANNA SZILAGYI /PAP/EPA
When Georgia beat Greece on penalties within the play-off closing to qualify for the European Championship finals for the primary time in historical past, a photograph of the group was posted on social media by the native soccer federation with the caption: “Good morning, Europe. We’re Georgia.”
The primary dozen or so minutes of the match in Cologne have been dominated by the European champions from 1964, 2008 and 2012. The group led by coach Luis de la Fuente “inflated the statistics”: possession of the ball, nook kicks, photographs on objective. They by no means as soon as let their opponents into their very own half. Nonetheless, there was no impact within the type of a objective, and goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili performed a big half on this, stopping solely 5 photographs by half-time, most of them tough to defend.
The Georgians had their first profitable foray within the 18th minute, when Cracovia participant Otar Kakabadze crossed from the fitting wing in direction of Chwicza Kwaracchelii, and the Napoli midfielder put Robin Le Normand below stress so successfully that the Actual Sociedad defender despatched the ball into his personal web.
There was euphoria among the many Georgians within the stands, and consternation among the many different followers. Nothing indicated that the debutants would take the lead, however the eighth personal objective – and the primary conceded by Spain – within the present version of the European Championship grew to become a truth.
The Spaniards shortly recovered from the shock and began taking part in dynamically and near Mamardashvili’s objective once more, successfully defending themselves towards particular person counterattacks from their opponents. The stress paid off within the thirty ninth minute, when, on the sting of the penalty space, Rodri switched the ball from his proper foot to his left and fired a exact shot close to the put up, equalizing.
Nonetheless, the truth that the Spanish captain Alvaro Morata was offside on the time of the shot could also be controversial, and theoretically he may have briefly lined the ball for Mamardashvili. The state of affairs was checked by VAR referees and it was assessed that Morata’s positioning didn’t play any function within the state of affairs.
From the start of the second half, the Spanish continued the way in which they’d been taking part in earlier than the break. After three minutes… they virtually conceded a objective from the center of the pitch. Kwaracchelia noticed Unai Simone, who was far in entrance of the objective, and fired a shot that the Spanish goalkeeper would definitely not have been in a position to deal with, besides that the Georgian missed by just a few dozen centimeters.
There was virtually no different menace to the Spanish objective, though Giorgi Tsitaishvili discovered himself in a very good place within the 61st minute, however his shot was very astray. Within the meantime, “La Roja” launched additional assaults. They took the lead within the 51st minute, when Fabian Ruiz headed into the online after a exact cross from Lamine Yamal.
The debutant was disillusioned by Nico Williams (seventy fifth) and Dani Olmo (83rd).
The Spanish, who received all 4 of their Euro 2024 matches, will face the hosts within the quarter-finals. “How the Germans have to be shaking now!” – wrote the official web site of the each day “Marca”.
The assembly of those groups is scheduled for Friday in Stuttgart.
Yellow playing cards: Spain – Alvaro Morata; Georgia – Zuriko Davitashvili.
Decide: Francois Letexier (France).
Viewers: 42,233.
Spain: Unai Simon – Dani Carvajal (81. Jesus Navas), Robin Le Normand, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella (66. Alejandro Grimaldo) – Pedri (52. Dani Olmo), Rodri, Fabian Ruiz (81. Mikel Merino) – Lamine Yamal, Alvaro Morata (66. Mikel Oyarzabal), Nico Williams.
Georgia: Giorgi Mamardashvili – Otar Kakabadze, Giorgi Gvelesiani (79. Nika Kwekweskiri), Guram Kashia, Lasha Dwali, Luka Lochoshvili (64. Giorgi Tsitaishvili) – Giorgi Chakvetadze (64. Zuriko Davitashvili), Otar Kiteishvili (41. Sandro Altunashvili), Giorgi Kochorashvili – Georges Mikautadze (79. Budu Zivzivadze), Khvicha Kvarackhelia.
/RMF FM
Supply: RMF24
