Spain overcome early setback to beat Georgia 4-1; advance to Euro 2024 quarterfinals

La Roja will hope to continue their dominant display when they take on Germany next.

After giving up an own goal early on, stylish Spain overcame Georgia’s relentless and energetic defence to win 4-1 on Sunday in Cologne and advance to a tantalising quarterfinal matchup with hosts’ Germany in the Euro 2024.

After enduring an almost constant early onslaught, and with some excellent saves from outstanding custodian Giorgi Mamardashvili, Georgia shocked the crowd by taking the lead on their first attack eighteen minutes in when Otar Kakabadze’s zinging cross was deflected into his own net by Spain’s Robin Le Normand’s chest. It was the first time in the competition that Spain had given up.

However, the Spaniards levelled the scoring after Williams and Rodri combined to give Spain an equalizer in the 39th minute.

Six minutes into the second half, Fabian Ruiz gave La Roja the lead after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s near-miraculous second goal for the tournament outsiders tied the score with a header from the outside of the box.

Spain kept pressing and probing, but the Georgians were too strong to stop them until Nico Williams burst free to hammer home the third goal.

Dani Olmo finished off the scoring nicely seven minutes from time to give La Roja their fourth victory of the competition.

On Friday in Stuttgart, Spain will meet the host country, Germany, in the quarterfinals. Georgia had just finished their maiden major tournament campaign, which had featured an unexpected 2-0 victory over Portugal led by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Georgia were at some point causing all problems to Spain with their transitional phase which proved to be difficult to prevent but when once Spain got hold of the game they showed their dominant side and got the job done.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Telegram.