…Georgia played with immense bravery, but Spain the team to beat
There are plenty of sides who might have been shaken here by the fear of one of the great tournament upsets but Spain are no ordinary team.
A brief scare against Georgia would ultimately prove no more than that. Luis de la Fuente’s beautifully balanced, beautifully choreographed side would recover from an 18th-minute own goal from Robin Le Normand to end Georgia’s heartwarming German odyssey in quite emphatic fashion and set up a tantalising quarter-final against the host nation in Stuttgart on Friday.
Germany look pretty good themselves but not Spain good. La Rojo, with the jet-heeled Nico Williams and 16-year-old wonderkid Lamine Yamal on the flanks and a magnificent midfield, remain the team to beat at this tournament.
Georgia’s players and staff will return home with many a story to regale about their heroic exploits at their first major tournament. They did themselves proud again here, even if the scoreline had taken on a more bruising look by the end.
In Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, they have a genuine star in the making while their goalkeeper, Giorgi Mamardashvili, has been one of the tournament’s outstanding performers. Spain will testify to as much.
After Georgia took a shock lead, Rodri drew Spain level late in the first half as the sheer weight of pressure finally told and then, in the second period, the young guns took over. Williams and Yamal were simply unplayable.
Yamal teed up the second with one of those gorgeously clipped crosses from the inside right channel that Fabian Ruiz headed in from just inside the six-yard box. Ruiz then turned provider for the third when he sent a raking pass from deep in behind for Williams. One on one against Giorgi Gvelesiani, the Georgia defender stood no chance and was beaten for pace before the Athletic Bilbao flyer rifled a fine into the top of the net. Substitute Dani Olmo claimed the fourth.
It sets up a top class quarter final with Germany, probably the best two teams in the tournament so far. Good news for their rivals that one of them is going out. Spain very impressive tonight, Georgia with the equivalent of a haymaker early on but Spain beat the count and then really put the match to bed.
Georgia’s players, having already secured an £8.5 million bonus for reaching the last 16 in their first major tournament as an independent nation, have been promised a similar pay-out should they beat Spain in Cologne this evening.
The country’s billionaire former Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is offering the squad an opportunity to double their money if they pull off one of the greatest upsets in international tournament history.
Financial windfalls aside, Georgia’s footballers have also been motivated by the knowledge that their escapades in Germany are having something of a healing power back home at a time when the country is in the midst of huge political tension and division.
A controversial new law has effectively declared certain groups who speak out against the government as enemies of the state but, amid the protests and violence, Wednesday’s remarkable 2-0 victory over Portugal that set up the clash with Spain had a unifying effect as supporters celebrated wildly on the streets of Tbilisi.
The Telegraph
