Portugal fell to defeat by the hands of a Georgia facet ranked 68 locations under them in FIFA’s world rankings because the Euro 2024 group stage concluded on Wednesday evening.
Cristiano Ronaldo and co. will take up their place within the final 16 of the competitors, however so too will Georgia of their main match debut, knocking Hungary out of the 4 best-ranked third place group stage finishers within the course of.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s early purpose set the tone for Georgia, who executed a masterful gameplan set by former France worldwide Willy Sagnol. The defence and goalkeeper then stored Portugal at bay lengthy sufficient for Georges Mikautadze to double the lead from the penalty spot within the second half and finally knock the stuffing out of the 2016 European champions.
How the sport unfolded
Portugal have been already assured to win Group F earlier than kick-off, main Roberto Martinez to make eight modifications from the facet that beat Turkey final day trip. Solely Ronaldo, Joao Palhinha and goalkeeper Diogo Costa retained their locations within the lineup.
However lower than two minutes have been on the clock when a disastrous unfastened move from highly-rated Benfica centre-back Antonio Silva gifted Georgia the opening purpose. The 20-year-old hadn’t scanned correctly when he knocked the ball again, with Mikautadze snapping it up and feeding Kvaratskhelia to run by way of on purpose. He stored his cool to complete past Costa because the Georgian followers erupted.
Ronaldo, desperately looking for a purpose at this match, stung the palms of goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili with an bold free-kick from distance. The 39-year-old was visibly irritated when Silva obtained in his means making an attempt to achieve a back-post header, whereas Francisco Conceicao went on to strike the facet netting from a good place as Portuguese stress grew.
Joao Felix wasn’t distant from simply outdoors the field and Giorgi Gvelesiani threw himself in entrance of Ronaldo to dam a goal-bound half volley. Virtually instantly up the opposite finish, the Georgian centre-back simply did not make contact with an excellent free-kick supply as a reminder of the risk.
Pedro Neto virtually caught out Mamardashvili with an in-swinging nook on the finish of the primary half, with Ronaldo gesticulating and complaining because the groups walked off on the break.
Ronaldo’s eyes lit up early within the second half when the ball fell to him within the six-yard field, with Lasha Dvali pulling off the heroic block to disclaim him. However Portugal nonetheless seemed weak to an extended ball or counter and a cleaner contact from Kvaratskhelia in the midst of the field would have been 2-0.
Diogo Dalot turned the newest Portuguese participant denied by Mamardashvili, who made a improbable save to tip the curling effort simply broad of the publish. It turned a fair higher cease moments later when a VAR overview led to Georgia being awarded a penalty after Silva’s wild swing made contact with Luca Lochoshvili’s ankle. Costa guessed proper however Mikautadze’s conversion was too good.
Ronaldo departed shortly afterwards and Portugal appeared to lack the abdomen for it after that, with Georgia wanting extra prone to prolong their lead than see it eaten into. However there was nonetheless time late on for the spectacular Mamardashvili to make two closing saves from Nelson Semedo and Diogo Jota.
GK: Diogo Costa – 6/10 – Crushed in one-on-one and from the penalty spot. Cannot be blamed.
CB: Antonio Silva – 3/10 – Will not wish to relive his terrible begin to the sport, costing his crew an early purpose with a lax move that was picked off. Then ended up freely giving a penalty to compound it.
CB: Danilo Pereira – 6/10 – The skilled elder statesman within the again three, flanked by two kids who did not have nice video games both facet of him.
CB: Goncalo Inacio – 5/10 – Protecting the ball wasn’t an issue however seemed weak out of possession, not precisely nice for a centre-back being talked about at the least £50m participant.
RM: Diogo Dalot – 6/10 – Solely denied a world class long-range effort by an equally unbelievable save proper earlier than Georgia’s second purpose. Largely held his personal towards Kvaratskhelia in open play.
CM: Joao Palhinha – 6/10 – Fairly polished in possession and loved a few pictures from distance – one astray and one on track.
CM: Joao Neves – 6/10 – Handed tremendously precisely, though it felt like he lacked actual impression.
LM: Pedro Neto – 5/10 – Did not look vastly comfy when requested to defend. Rightly booked for a naughty act of simulation within the first half, however almost scored direct from a nook.
RF: Francisco Conceicao – 6/10 – Regarded vigorous and his tempo threatened to trigger issues. Tough across the edges however displayed loads of promise.
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo (c) – 5/10 – Regarded a bit determined to maintain the flame alive and frustrations have been heightened. Booked for dissent over a shirt pull that he needed a penalty for.
LF: Joao Felix – 6/10 – Appeared to develop into the sport after a sluggish begin and created a handful of probabilities throughout Portugal’s first half dominance. Pale afterward.
Substitutes
SUB: Ruben Neves (46′ for Palhinha) – 5/10
SUB: Nelson Semedo (66′ for A. Silva) – 5/10
SUB: Goncalo Ramos (66′ for Ronaldo) – 4/10
SUB: Matheus Nunes (75′ for J. Neves) – 6/10
SUB: Diogo Jota (75′ for Neto) – 5/10
Subs not used: Jose Sa (GK), Rui Patricio (GK), Joao Cancelo, Nuno Mendes, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Nunes, Vitinha, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota.
Supervisor
Roberto Martinez – 4/10 – It was a big gamble to make so many modifications, as he routinely has performed for the reason that begin of the warm-ups earlier this month. Rolling the cube value him and it might solely be hoped it hasn’t killed Portugal’s earlier momentum heading into the knockouts.
