NOS Voetbal•gisteren, 23:02
View the abstract of Georgia-Portugal
Georgia has reached the eighth finals of the European Soccer Championship because of a shocking victory over Portugal (2-0). The modest soccer nation finishes third in group F and can also be one of many 4 finest numbers three.
The Georgians at the moment are getting ready for a confrontation with three-time European champions Spain on Sunday, June 30 at 9 p.m.
NOSThe remaining rating in group F
With the group win in hand, the Portuguese appeared on the kick-off in Gelsenkirchen with no fewer than eight new gamers. Solely captain Cristiano Ronaldo, goalkeeper Diogo Costa and midfielder João Palhinha retained their beginning place in comparison with the second group match with Turkey (3-0).
Portugal with B group
The Portuguese B group turned out to be no match for the preventing spirit of the Georgians, who performed an intense match led by star Khvitsja Kvaratschelia.
The Napoli attacker gave the European Championship debutant the lead after two minutes with a diagonal shot. Portuguese defender António Silva suffered a slipshod lack of ball to Georges Mikautadze in midfield, who then launched Kvaratschelia in entrance of the keeper.
Portugal counter-attacked and had possibilities by means of Ronaldo (free kick and shot from second line) and Francisco Conceição, however goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili was alert.
ReutersCristiano Ronaldo is upset that he’s being substituted within the match in opposition to Georgia
Georgia actually didn’t crawl into its shell and remained harmful beneath Kvaratschelia’s impulses. In the meantime, dissatisfaction was rising in Portugal. Ronaldo obtained a yellow card for complaining at referee Sandro Scharer, whereas Pedro Neto noticed a yellow card for a foul.
Neto’s punishment was already the third yellow card for Portugal at this European Championship for a foul. The earlier two yellow playing cards got here from Rafael Leão, who served a suspension in Gelsenkirchen for that purpose.
Penalty
Within the second half, Georgia remained proud and Mikautadze made it 2-0 from the penalty spot within the 57th minute.
The Portuguese Antonio Silva as soon as once more performed a unfavourable function by fouling Otar Kiteishvili within the field, who eagerly went down and was rewarded with a penalty.
ReutersGeorges Mikautadze celebrates his 2-0 for Georgia
Portugal stored making an attempt and supplied Georgia loads of room for counters by pushing ahead. From such a counter-punch, Kiteishvili despatched away Giorgi Chakvetadze, who missed the prospect to make it 3-0 with a hasty swipe. Zueriko Davitashvili, who had simply come on, shot into the facet netting.
The dearth of targets clearly didn’t spoil the Georgian celebrations.
