Georgia victory shocks Portugal in EURO 2024

Thursday | June 27, 2024

Georgia beat Portugal 2-0 to progress to the round of 16 I UEFA European Championship 2024 at Veltins-Arena in Schalke, Germany.

Kvhicha Kvaratskhalia gave Georgia a great start when he broke clear to capitalise on a defence-splitting and sped to score just two (2) minutes in the game. The Portuguese had barely settled when the Georginas stunned them with a 1-0 lead.

From the halftime break, both teams sized each other up with Portugal more concerned and looked for a goal to level matters. However, the Georgians struck again through a penalty by Georges Mikautadze in the 57th minute, doubling the scoreline.

At 2-0 down, defeat was becoming more apparent for the Portuguese. They were receiving a beating they hardly experience at this level of football from small nations. And they rarely recorded as the match ended with Georgia collecting the (3) maximum points at stake.

The Georgia tally of four (4) points took them to position three in Group F guaranteeing them a place in the round of 16. As it were, making them one of the four 3rd-place best finishers to qualify to the knockout stage of the European Championship 2024.

Meanwhile, Portugal’s 6-point aggregate means they are top Group F winners.

On the other hand, Türkiye beat CZechia 2-1 in the commending group fixture play at the same time. Hakan Çalhanoğlu (57’) opened the scoring for Türkiye and Tomáš Souček (62’) made it 1-1 for Georgia.

However, Cent Tuson’s additional-time goal (90+4”) won it for Türkiye. From this victory, they gained automatic qualification behind Portugal with six(6) points. Whereas Czechia’s loss meant an outright elimination with only one (1) in this group. Adding salt to the wound, the Czechians had Tomáš Chorý sent off (90+8’) just before the final whistle.