Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams and Dani Olmo scored as Spain beat surprise Georgia 4-1 at Euro 2024 on Sunday and set up a quarter-final success against hosts Germany. Robin Le Normand’s own goal gave Georgia a surprise 18th-minute lead in this round of 16 tie, sending their raucous fans wild in Cologne. It was the first goal Spain had conceded in the competition, but they came from behind to equalize six minutes before half-time, courtesy of Manchester City midfielder Rodri. Ruiz then headed home in the 51st minute and Williams raced in the third before substitute Olmo secured victory as La Roja remained on track to become European champions for the fourth time.
Spain now face Germany in the round of 16 in Stuttgart on Friday in a repeat of the Euro 2008 final, which they won 1-0, beginning their golden era of dominance in international football.
Luis de la Fuente’s current side are looking to bring back the glory days and were expected to leave Georgia aside here.
Ultimately, they would have won by a much larger margin if they had converted more chances, with 16-year-old winger Lamine Yamal wasting several opportunities in his bid to become the youngest ever goalscorer at the Euros.
Georgia is ranked 74th in the world, 66 places below Spain. Willy Sagnol’s side lost twice to Spain in the qualifiers, losing 7-1 at home and 3-1 away.
Still, they qualified for a first major tournament and then reached the knockout stages with an impressive 2-0 victory over Portugal.
Sagnol said on the eve of this game that his little-known team “had already won the European Championship” thanks to their remarkable campaign, and will now go home with their heads held high despite falling apart here.
They have a lively attacking partnership between Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Georges Mikautadze that is a danger to any opponent, and Giorgi Mamardashvili has been one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament.
Mamardashvili had already saved Pedri and blocked Dani Carvajal’s header before Georgia advanced.
The play started with a beautiful move by Kvaratskhelia, who had little room to maneuver on the left wing, but took advantage of a pass to Mikautadze, who then released Otar Kakabadze on the right wing.
Kakabadze’s cross into the box was horrendous for Le Normand, who had Kvaratskhelia arriving behind him and was unable to stop the ball ricocheting off him and into the net for his eighth own goal of Euro 2024.
Spain were now vulnerable to the counterattack, which is Georgia’s strong point, but the men in red continued to dominate the game and tested Mamardashvili.
The Valencia goalkeeper made several more interventions in an increasingly wild encounter before the equalizer finally arrived, with Rodri controlling a pass from Williams on the edge of the box and slotting the ball into the corner.
It looked like this could happen to Georgia, but they remained audacious on the counterattack, with Kvaratskhelia almost scoring from inside his own half early in the second half, with his shot going wide with goalkeeper Unai Simon out of position. .
Spain took the lead shortly afterwards when Yamal crossed from the right for Ruiz to head home his second goal of the tournament at the far post.
Not only did Yamal waste his own chances, he also forced an own goal that was disallowed for offside, before Georgia collapsed defensively in the increasingly heavy rain.
Ruiz released Williams, who ran from inside his own half, passed Giorgi Gvelesiani in the box and shot into the roof of the net to make it 3-1 in the 75th minute.
A delightful control and finish on the edge of Olmo’s box completed the scoring seven minutes from time.
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