Spain versus Germany, then. Don’t mind if we do. The tournament’s hosts and its best team will meet in Stuttgart for a place in the semi-finals after the selección took 33 shots and scored four goals to ease past Georgia here. Only “ease” may not be quite the right word.
They were hugely impressive again en route to a victory secured by goals from Rodri, Fabián Ruiz, Nico Williams and Dani Olmo, a lovely combination of quality, control and velocity confirming their status as favourites, but that makes it sound a little simpler than it was – if only because for the first time Spain conceded and Georgia did all they could to make a match of it.
Ultimately, though, Georgia were no match for a team led by Rodri and who have Lamine Yamal and Williams tearing defences apart. The question now is whether anyone else will be. Yet while Spain deserved to progress, and Lamine Yamal in particular might reflect that he could have had a goal or two to go with another outrageous performance for a kid of 16 or an adult of any age, the fourth felt a little harsh on debutants who are heading home to 3.7 million people who will rightly welcome them as heroes.
The lowest ranked team in the tournament, 74 in the world, 35 in Europe, Georgia’s exit is no surprise. What is a surprise is how much they will be missed, how far they came. Seven sheets were strung across the stand spelling out the word BELIEVE in big red, capital letters and for a while they really did. Giorgi Kochorashvili had already described this as “a beautiful, unbelievable film”, and that was before they scored the opener on 18 minutes. They did not truly fall until the 75th, and they did so seeking a way back into a game they refused to give up on.
It was some moment, and it shocked. “That generated doubts,” Rodri admitted, not least the way it came. It had only taken 50 seconds for Williams to go beyond Otar Kakabadze, just over a hundred of them for Fabián Ruiz to fire off the first shot, and less then 10 minutes for Giorgi Mamardashvili to have to make the first of nine saves as Spain started with intent. By the time Georgia got out, the possession stats read 86%-14% and the shot count 9-0 but for all the dominance, when they did, they were devastating.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia started it, racing up the left, laying the ball off but not stopping. Otar Kiteishvili scampered across the middle, opening to the other side where Kakabadze was running, and he delivered into the six-yard box for Kvaratskhelia, bombing in. Robin Le Normand got there first but could only deflect it into the net. Georgia had scored. Well, Spain had but who cared? Not the subs streaming on to the pitch, that’s for sure; not the supporters with tears streaming down their faces either. This was a shock, the shock.
Spain felt it. They had been so on top, so superior, but Georgia were emboldened, willing to run whenever they got a glimpse of space. Le Normand had to block a shot, Georges Mikautadze tumbled in the area and another break begun by Kiteishvili almost caught Spain. The selección lost a little control; it was to their credit that they got it back so decisively, scoring the equaliser just before half-time, when Rodri guided into the corner from Williams’ pass.
Willy Sagnol, the Georgia coach, felt it had been offside for interference from Álvaro Morata and questioned the use of VAR. He also considered it decisive, his team unable to make it to half-time in the lead and losing the hugely impressive Kiteishvili, who had been down as the move unfolded.
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The celebration spoke of relief. “Had we got to half-time without scoring, it would have been harder,” Rodri admitted. Instead, logic seemed reestablished, although the threat remained at each of the ends, both sides moving fast in their own way. One dash saw Kvaratskhelia almost catch out Unai Simón from the halfway line; immediately, Yamal went on a run of his own. Taken down on the edge of the area, the 16-year‑old took the free kick himself.
Mamardashvili made a superb save then but he could not stop everything. Yamal got the ball back and clipped a gorgeous cross for Fabián Ruiz to head Spain into the lead. Yamal then saw two chances go past each post. Spain turned the screw, if in a more controlled manner. Exhausted, Georgia’s runs forward were fewer and more desperate. When Kvaratskhelia found Giorgi Tsitaishvili, the shot sliced wide.
Still they tried, to the last, even if the risk was realised. A Kvaratskhelia run coming to a close on the edge of the Spain area; in a flash, with fast feet, Williams was away. Cutting inside the Georgia area, he lifted the ball brilliantly over Mamardashvili and into the net to make it three. Now it was done, Olmo wrapping it all off with a fourth to see Spain into the quarter-final.