Spain recover from early shock to stroll past Georgia and into quarter-finals | Euro 2024

So Spain v Germany. Never mind, the hosts and the best team ever will face off in Stuttgart for a place in the semi-finals. choice They beat Georgia comfortably, scoring four goals from 31 shots. Well, comfortably may not be the right word as they once again impressed, winning with goals from Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams and Dani Olmo. With a great combination of quality, control and speed, they are the obvious favourites to win, but that might make it sound a little simpler than it actually is, as they were the first to concede a lead in Germany.

At the very least, it risks devaluing what Georgia achieved here. They deserved to go through, and they did. Meanwhile, Willy Sagnol’s men will return home to be greeted by 3.7 million spectators as heroes, as they should be. The lowest-ranked team here, 74th in the world and 35th in Europe, that’s no surprise. What’s surprising is how much they will be missed, how much we have enjoyed watching them, how much they have improved. And for a while, they wondered if they could go a little further. Sagnol’s men opened the scoring, scored first against Spain, and when they finally lost, they were looking for a way back into a game they hadn’t given up on.

There were six pieces of paper on the stand, with the word “BELIEVE” written in big red capital letters. What if that was really possible? Giorgi Kocholashvili had already described the film as “a beautiful and incredible film.” in front The moment they broke through Spain and scored the opening goal here. They had been playing for 18 minutes when it happened. At least Spain did. Georgia fought back as hard as they could, but the players in the red shirts kept pounced, each time more relentless and violent.

It took just 50 seconds for Nico Williams to slot the first ball past Otar Kakabadze. It took just over 100 seconds for Fabian Ruiz to take his first shot and less than 10 minutes for Giorgi Mamadashvili to make his first save. Georgia came out of their own half with 88% possession to 12% and 9 to 0 shots. But despite their superiority, when they got going, they were disastrous. Khubicha Kvaratskheria started it by racing up the left wing and cutting inside, and it all happened so fast.

Kvaratskheria made the pass, but it wasn’t stopped. Otar Kiteishvili received the ball and ran down the middle of the pitch, the ball drifting to the other side where Kakabadze was running into space. He got to the edge of the area and fired a powerful ball from the left, sending a curve ball into Kvaratskheria’s six-yard box. Robin Le Normand got to it first, but the ball just bounced into the net. It happened. Georgia had scored. Spain had scored, but who cared? The substitutes streaming onto the pitch probably didn’t care, and neither did the crying supporters. It was a shock. of shock.

Spain felt it. They were on top, they were dominant. You can’t find fault with what they had done so far, except for not stopping the move before it fully unfolded. But now they had lost a bit of control. Georgia were flying. Just the confidence. Not because they had the ball, not because they pushed Spain back. But their willingness to run, to attack when they saw a glimpse of opportunity, and to attack in numbers, was just incredible.

Le Normand had to block a shot before Mikhautadze fell in the area. Another break, again initiated by Kiteishvili, saw the same pair sprint up the field, cheers blaring with every step. Spain looked a little flustered but they deservedly got back on their feet just before the end of the first half when Rodri found Williams, who again pulled the ball back for the Manchester City midfielder to slot clean into the corner. Georgia had one man down when the goal was scored but, worst of all, it was Kiteishvili, who had been so impressive up until then.

The celebrations spoke of relief and it was natural to believe the game was over. The game was once again Spain’s toes. It seemed inevitable that they would score again, the logic was once again established. But threats remained on both sides, and both teams were quick in their own way. Early in the second half, Kvaratskeria beat Unai Simon from the halfway line, but his shot went just wide. Almost at the same time, Lamine Yamal made a run of his own and headed the ball in from the right. After being brought down on the edge of the area, the 16-year-old took the free kick himself.

Mamardashvili made a fine save – it was already his sixth – but he couldn’t stop them all. The ball was played back to Lamine Yamal, who played a superb pass to Ruiz to give Spain the lead. 11 seconds had passed between the save and the goal. Lamine Yamal then shot just wide and had a chance shortly after, but the ball went wide of the post. Seresiupon Georgia were far less keen to go for more with time on their side, but they were not content with two goals. A tired side was pushing less and looking more desperate. Kvaratskheria found Giorgi Tsitaishvili and gave him a good chance on goal, but the shot went wide.

But they tried until the end, and even as the risks became real, Kvaratskheria’s run ended on the edge of the Spanish box. Williams was quick on his feet in a flash, inside the Georgia box and lofted the ball beautifully over Mamardashvili’s head and into the net for a third. And then the goal finally went in, as Olmo scored the fourth to send Spain into the quarter-finals.