Spain are in the quarter-finals of the Euro. In what was probably the most unbalanced match of the last 16, La Roja overcame a valiant Georgia, beaten 4-1. The Spanish will face Germany next Friday (to follow from 6:00 p.m. on RTS 2).
Nothing was easy for Luis de la Fuente’s men. Facing a team well grouped in defense with a goalkeeper at the top of his game, they even conceded the opening following an own goal from Robin Le Normand in the 18th. The defender deceived his goalkeeper Unai Simon by deflecting a cross from Otar Kakabadze with his chest.
Far from being demobilized, the Spaniards continued to put their foot on the ball (over 75% possession) and circle around Giorgi Mamardashvili’s goal. It was finally Rodri Hernandez who brought the two teams back to level in the 39th minute by unleashing an unstoppable low shot from 16 meters.
Spain ends up taking the lead
In the second half, the pattern remained the same: the Georgians kept defending against the technically superior Spaniards. And only 6 minutes after the restart, Fabian Ruiz gave his team the lead with a header from a cross from the prodigy Lamine Yamal.
La Roja then definitely made the break in the 75th minute via Nico Williams, who went on a counter-attack. The Georgians, exhausted at the end of the match, conceded a final goal in the 83rd minute on a strike from Dani Olmo.
Willy Sagnol’s Georgia, which reached the round of 16 stage for the first time in its history, was not unworthy, but the qualitative gap between the two teams was too great to hope for anything. The bill could also have been higher without Mamardashvili’s countless saves.
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>> Also read: Miraculously defeating Slovakia, England joins Switzerland in the quarter-finals, “Shame”, “National bankruptcy”: Italy in despair, One of the most accomplished performances in the history of the Swiss team et “Switzerland’s control was incredible. Tactically, their performance was a model of its kind”
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