- Georgia pull off shock result to secure place in Euro 2024 knockouts
- Lowest ranked team in the tournament beat Portugal to progress
- Cristiano Ronaldo still waiting for first goal at his sixth European Championship
Portugal fell to defeat at the hands of a Georgia side ranked 68 places below them in FIFA's world rankings as the Euro 2024 group stage concluded on Wednesday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo and co. will take up their place in the last 16 of the competition, but so too will Georgia in their major tournament debut, knocking Hungary out of the four best-ranked third place group stage finishers in the process.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's early goal set the tone for Georgia, who executed a masterful gameplan set by former France international Willy Sagnol. The defence and goalkeeper then kept Portugal at bay long enough for Georges Mikautadze to double the lead from the penalty spot in the second half and ultimately knock the stuffing out of the 2016 European champions.
How the game unfolded
Portugal were already guaranteed to win Group F before kick-off, leading Roberto Martinez to make eight changes from the side that beat Turkey last time out. Only Ronaldo, Joao Palhinha and goalkeeper Diogo Costa retained their places in the lineup.
But less than two minutes were on the clock when a disastrous loose pass from highly-rated Benfica centre-back Antonio Silva gifted Georgia the opening goal. The 20-year-old hadn't scanned properly when he knocked the ball back, with Mikautadze snapping it up and feeding Kvaratskhelia to run through on goal. He kept his cool to finish beyond Costa as the Georgian fans erupted.
Ronaldo, desperately seeking a goal at this tournament, stung the palms of goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili with an ambitious free-kick from distance. The 39-year-old was visibly annoyed when Silva got in his way trying to reach a back-post header, while Francisco Conceicao went on to strike the side netting from a decent position as Portuguese pressure grew.
Joao Felix wasn't far away from just outside the box and Giorgi Gvelesiani threw himself in front of Ronaldo to block a goal-bound half volley. Almost immediately up the other end, the Georgian centre-back just failed to make contact with a glorious free-kick delivery as a reminder of the threat.
Pedro Neto almost caught out Mamardashvili with an in-swinging corner at the end of the first half, with Ronaldo gesticulating and complaining as the teams walked off at the break.
Ronaldo's eyes lit up early in the second half when the ball fell to him in the six-yard box, with Lasha Dvali pulling off the heroic block to deny him. But Portugal still looked vulnerable to a long ball or counter and a cleaner contact from Kvaratskhelia in the middle of the box would have been 2-0.
Diogo Dalot became the latest Portuguese player denied by Mamardashvili, who made a fantastic save to tip the curling effort just wide of the post. It became an even better stop moments later when a VAR review led to Georgia being awarded a penalty after Silva's wild swing made contact with Luca Lochoshvili's ankle. Costa guessed right but Mikautadze's conversion was too good.
Ronaldo departed shortly afterwards and Portugal seemed to lack the stomach for it after that, with Georgia looking more likely to extend their lead than see it eaten into. But there was still time late on for the impressive Mamardashvili to make two final saves from Nelson Semedo and Diogo Jota.
Portugal player ratings (3-4-3)
GK: Diogo Costa - 6/10 - Beaten in one-on-one and from the penalty spot. Can't be blamed.
CB: Antonio Silva - 3/10 - Won't want to relive his awful start to the game, costing his team an early goal with a lax pass that was picked off. Then ended up giving away a penalty to compound it.
CB: Danilo Pereira - 6/10 - The experienced elder statesman in the back three, flanked by two youngsters who didn't have great games either side of him.
CB: Goncalo Inacio - 5/10 - Keeping the ball wasn't a problem but looked vulnerable out of possession, not exactly great for a centre-back being talked about as a minimum £50m player.
RM: Diogo Dalot - 6/10 - Only denied a world class long-range effort by an equally incredible save right before Georgia's second goal. Largely held his own against Kvaratskhelia in open play.
CM: Joao Palhinha - 6/10 - Pretty polished in possession and enjoyed a couple of shots from distance - one off target and one on target.
CM: Joao Neves - 6/10 - Passed tremendously accurately, although it felt like he lacked real impact.
LM: Pedro Neto - 5/10 - Didn't look hugely comfortable when asked to defend. Rightly booked for a naughty act of simulation in the first half, but nearly scored direct from a corner.
RF: Francisco Conceicao - 6/10 - Looked lively and his pace threatened to cause problems. Rough around the edges but displayed plenty of promise.
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo (c) - 5/10 - Looked a little desperate to keep the flame alive and frustrations were heightened. Booked for dissent over a shirt pull that he wanted a penalty for.
LF: Joao Felix - 6/10 - Seemed to grow into the game after a slow start and created a handful of chances during Portugal's first half dominance. Faded later on.
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.
Manager
Roberto Martinez - 4/10 - It was a gamble to make so many changes, as he routinely has done since the start of the warm-ups earlier this month. Rolling the dice cost him and it can only be hoped it hasn't killed Portugal's earlier momentum heading into the knockouts.
