Georgia 2-0 Portugal: Famous victory takes Georgia into the round of 16 of the 2024 European Championship, England face Slovakia

A famous victory by Georgia over Portugal took Willy Sagnol’s team to the round of 16 of Euro 2024, where England will play against Slovakia.

The Eastern European country of four million, taking part in a major tournament for the first time, recorded the biggest win in its history. Goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Georges Mikautadze in either half secured the team third place in Group F.

This qualified them for the round of 16, where they will face Spain, while Portugal will face Slovenia.

Portugal had secured first place in Group F with victories in their first two games, so coach Roberto Martinez made eight changes to his starting eleven.

And they were caught off guard when Georgia, ranked 74th in the world, surprised them by taking the lead after just 93 seconds.

Benfica defender Antonio Silva will not want to see a replay of the goal as his misplaced pass went straight to Mikautadze, who advanced and played on to Kvaratskhelia, who fired the ball across into the bottom corner.

Portugal quickly took control and bombarded the Georgian goal with shots.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s signature curler was saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili, while Joao Felix’s shot went just wide.

Ronaldo almost equalised early in the second half but his shot from close range deflected, but the Georgian defence remained brilliant and determined.

The decisive moment of the game came after just under an hour, and Silva’s evening went from bad to worse.

Luka Lochoshvili stormed into the penalty area and fell to the ground under a wild leg swing from Silva.

Referee Sandro Schärer allowed the game to continue and Portugal stormed forward, with Mamardashvili making a brilliant save to deny Diogo Dalot’s attempt.

But when play was stopped, the video referee asked the Swiss referee to look at the monitor and the referee awarded a penalty, which Mikautadze converted and gave Georgia a decisive two-goal lead.

Georgia, coached by former French international Willy Sagnol, had 20 minutes to hold on and make history, and they did so with relative ease.

They were the team most likely to add to the scoreline when Mikautadze fired over on a counterattack and Zuriko Davitashvili hit the side netting.

They endured a nerve-racking period of extra time in which Portugal almost scored, but held on to secure a stunning victory that now separates the two countries by 68 places in the rankings.

Additional reporting from PA