The star of the match was not Cristiano Ronaldo (39, Al Nasr). It was Hvitsa Kvaradze Helia (23, Napoli).
The Georgia national team won their UEFA Euro 2024 Group F third-round match against Portugal 2-0 at the Arena Offshalle in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, at 4 a.m. ET on Sunday.
Georgia finished third in Group F with one win, one draw and one loss (four points) and booked their ticket to the Round of 16, which is awarded to the top four teams in each group. It is the first round of 16 in their history.
Portugal’s path to the round of 16 was not without problems. They finished the group stage with a 2-1 record (6 points) and first place in the group.
Having already secured an early round of 16 berth with two straight group wins, Portugal rotated their lineup against Georgia. João Felix, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Franciscus Conceição lined up in the front line, with Pedro Neto, João Neves, João Palinha, and Diogo Dalot in the middle. The defense was Gonçalo Inácio-Danilho Pereira-Antônio Silva. 스포츠토토 Diogo Costa was the goalkeeper.
Georgia’s attack consisted of Giorgi Mitaukadze-Hvitsa Kvaradze Helia.
Giorgi Kochorashvili, Otar Kiteishvili, and Giorgi Tsakvetadze in midfield, and Lasha Dvali, Luka Rochoshvili, Guram Kashia, Giorgi Gveretsiani, and Otar Kakabadze in the back five. Giorgi Mamardashvili was in goal.
The match didn’t go as expected from the start. In the second minute of the first half, Georgia opened the scoring. Silva’s complacency in the Portuguese backline led to a mistake. Georgia quickly capitalized on the counterattack, as Hvitsa ripped a left-footed shot into the Portuguese net.
Down a goal, Portugal worked diligently. In the 16th minute, Ronaldo stepped up to take a free kick and tried to score himself, but his effort was saved by the goalkeeper. In the 34th minute, Hoopsim’s shot from inside the box was also defended.
Portugal started the second half a goal down, and to make matters worse, they conceded another. In the 10th minute of the second half, Silva tripped Rochoshvili in the box and a penalty kick was awarded after video assistant referee (VAR) review. Georgia sent Mikautadze to the spot. Mikhautadze made no mistake from the spot.
Portugal made a change in the 21st minute of the second half, taking off Ronaldo and Silva in favor of Gonzalo Hamus and Nelson Semedo, but it didn’t have the desired effect. They couldn’t even get a goal back.
The match ended in a 2-0 victory for Georgia.
After the match, UEFA announced on its official website that Hvitsa was named Player of the Match (POTM).
In addition to his goal, Hvitsa, who started and played around 81 minutes, shone both offensively and defensively, registering three shots, a 100% passing success rate, four touches in the opponent’s box, two successful dribbles (100% success rate), one ball into the final third, one successful tackle, five ball recoveries, and eight successful ball contests.
The UEFA Technical Observer said: 토토사이트 추천 “He scored a fantastic goal and created a lot of space. She kept the ball well when she needed to and was excellent in defense,” said the UEFA Technical Observer, explaining why Hvitsa was selected.
Georgia, meanwhile, will now face Spain in the Round of 16 on June 1.