Kvaratskhelia takes Georgia into the round of 16 with a famous win over Portugal | Euro 2024

That night, Georgia reached the round of 16 in their first major tournament appearance thanks to a stunning victory over Portugal. The thousands of fans who were there to witness the historic event will remember it for a long time. No wonder Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who set the nation dreaming with his goal in 92 seconds and then swapped shirts with his childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo, longed for the scenes in Tbilisi.

There will be plenty of lasting images from this victory, but it’s hard to top the sight of Georgia’s bench emptying and reserve goalkeepers Giorgi Loria and Luka Gugeshashvili flocking to cheer Georges Mikautadze after his penalty gave them a two-goal lead. Guram Kashia looked up to the sky, kissed his wrist and slapped his chest. Willy Sagnol, wearing a plain white T-shirt, merely clenched his left fist. It’s fair to say that the celebrations at home will be a little more uninhibited. “This is the best day in the lives of Georgians,” said Kvaratskhelia. “We have just made history. Nobody thought we would beat Portugal, but that’s why we are a strong team. We encouraged each other and said we can do it. Even if the chance is only 1%, we proved that it can be done.”

It was a tall order, given the 68-place gap between them in the FIFA rankings alone. Where to begin with what is arguably the biggest underdog story at a European Championship since Wales went deep at Euro 2016 or Iceland knocked England out that same summer? It would be easy to focus on the petulance of Ronaldo, who angrily kicked a water bottle down the touchline after being taken off midway through the second half. But that would be to ignore the endearing brilliance of this Georgian team; the way they celebrate blocks like victories, the dancing feet of Kvaratskhelia, the raw power of Kashia, a warrior and leader. It is Mikautadze, not Ronaldo, who is paving the way to the Golden Boot in Germany. Ronaldo has yet to hit the mark for the Portuguese team, which will face Slovenia in the last 16. It is the first time in his career that Ronaldo has failed to score in the group stages of a major tournament.

Georgia needed to win to avoid elimination, while Portugal went into the match with a place in the round of 16 already secured. Roberto Martínez changed nine of his ten outfield players, Ronaldo being the only one left from the impressive win against Turkey. Diogo Costa stayed in goal and after 92 seconds it was the Portuguese goalkeeper who caught the ball out of his net.

Martínez admitted his team struggled with Georgia’s intensity and hunger. By the end of the first half, Portugal had twice as many touches and 11 shots on goal as their opponents’ three. But just one was decisive: Kvaratskhelia fired the ball past Costa and into the far corner for his first goal of a major tournament. It’s a goal that will be repeated in Georgia for years to come, but one that right-back António Silva doesn’t want to see any time soon. Silva played a careless back pass towards the halfway line and when Mikautadze won the ball – the first time they had done so in the opposition half – he ran towards a wall of noise from Georgian fans who stared at him. Mikautadze spotted Kvaratskhelia to his left and played the perfect pass for his teammate to do the rest.

A brave and disciplined Georgia wanted to beat Portugal. To great cheers, Kashia snatched the ball from Ronaldo and soon after, Georgia took the ball from João Félix before playing their own beautiful triangle play. Whenever the ball was within five yards of Kvaratskhelia, the noise of the Georgian fans was deafening. Ronaldo was yellow carded for dissent after venting his anger at Swiss referee Sandro Schäfer for not penalising Georgian defender Luka Lochoshvili for standing too close. He fumed when Pedro Neto was yellow carded for diving just before half-time. He saw a shot brilliantly blocked by Giorgi Gvelesiani and another by Lasha Dvali early in the second half. No matter how much they believed in it, Georgia probably never expected Ronaldo to play as ball boy to restart play and score the equaliser.

Diogo Dalot forced Giorgi Marmardashvili, also excellent in the Georgian goal, into a phenomenal left-handed save, but then the referee pressed pause as VAR checked Lochoshvili’s fall in the box early in the match. The referee went to the pitchside VAR monitor and then pointed to the penalty spot, confirming that Silva, who was later substituted along with Ronaldo, had stabbed the midfielder. Mikautadze inside-footed his penalty into the corner, and although Costa headed in the right direction, neither he nor Portugal were a match for Georgia.