Georgia on hopes of another Euro 2024 upset: 'We know Spain very well'
History weighs heavily on Georgia’s chance of another stunning upset at the European Championship when facing Spain in the round of 16 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
Still, after Georgia and its flying winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia beat Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo, 2-0, on Wednesday in the group stage, anything seems possible.
But Spain has a lot more pedigree than Portugal. Spain won back-to-back European titles in 2008 and 2012, long before Georgia made its major tournament debut as the lowest-ranked team at Euro 2024.
There was the 7-1 rout in Tbilisi last September and the 3-1 beating in Valladolid two months later when they met in Euro 2024 qualifying.
"The 7-1 did teach us a lot of things," Georgia coach Willy Sagnol said Saturday, a day before the national team's biggest game. The winner will play Germany in the quarterfinals on Friday, but that prospect looks remote for the Georgians.
In Sagnol’s first qualifying group as Georgia coach, in 2021, there were two more wins for Spain on its way to the 2022 World Cup.
[Related: Euro 2024: Spain's perfect record to be tested by Georgia in round of 16]
It all adds up to Spain, No. 8 in FIFA’s world rankings, facing No. 74 Georgia in the biggest mismatch in the standings among the eight round-of-16 pairings.
"But we know Spain very well," Sagnol said. "We played them four times in the last three years. We lost four times and that’s just the way it is. But it’s a different competition tomorrow."
The main difference could be the confidence Georgia has taken from beating Portugal to book an unlikely place in the knockout rounds.
"This will be a totally different game," Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said Saturday. "Georgia have improved a lot."
Sagnol even suggested the 7-1 beating is one of the reasons Georgia is still here in Germany.
"Of course, it has been a difficult moment for us," said the former France defender, who played in the team that lost the 2006 World Cup final to Italy in Berlin. "But you know, sometimes, to get further in life, you need ... yes, you need moments like that where it’s very difficult."
"Where you think you’re not good, where you think you have done everything bad ... it’s always good, you know, to have moments like that."
That game in Tbilisi was also the international debut of 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, a breakout star of Euro 2024. The Spanish teen set a European Championship record in Tbilisi as the youngest ever scorer in a qualifying game.
"He has only just started," De la Fuente said. "I hope we can continue to enjoy him for many, many years to come. We’re also trying to train him as a person, not just as a footballer."
Reporting by The Associated Press.
