Georgia’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia inspires a historic 2-0 victory against Portugal in Euro 2024, advancing to the last 16. The match featured a pre-game pep talk from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Bollywood Fever: Georgia’s talisman Khvicha Kvaratskhelia delivered a man-of-the-match performance, propelling his country into the last 16 of Euro 2024 with a historic 2-0 victory over Portugal. This stunning win was inspired by a pre-match pep talk from his childhood hero, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Kvaratskhelia wasted no time, scoring Georgia’s opener within the first two minutes to shock the former Euro champions. He continued to dazzle with a display of all-action dribbling before being subbed off to a standing ovation with 15 minutes remaining.
The 23-year-old forward, upon whom many Georgian fans place their hopes, spoke before the match about his dreams of playing against Ronaldo and obtaining his idol’s shirt. A pre-game photo from 2013 circulated on social media, showing a young Kvaratskhelia at a football academy in Tbilisi, surrounded by excited young footballers and Ronaldo.
On Wednesday, the Napoli winger demonstrated that he is now on equal footing with one of his footballing idols and revealed a special memento from the match.
“I have a jersey of Ronaldo,” he told reporters. “I got it. And we also made it through the next round. This is the best day in the lives of Georgians. Everybody is so happy; we just made history. Nobody would believe that we would make it happen and we would defeat Portugal. But I think this is why we’re a strong team.”
Ronaldo had offered words of encouragement before the game, which Kvaratskhelia said gave him and his team the incentive they needed.
“When he comes to you before the match and says, ‘I wish you success,’ that is amazing,” Kvaratskhelia said. “I realized that we could do so many things today because it gave us so much incentive.”
Affectionately dubbed “Kvaradona” by adoring supporters of his club Napoli, with whom he won the Italian title in 2023, Kvaratskhelia put Georgia’s win above even that success.
“This is the best day in my life because it was more difficult to do it with the Georgian team than with the Napoli team,” he said.
Despite the personal accolades, Kvaratskhelia insisted that the basis for Georgia’s greatest-ever result was a collective effort.
“There was no individual best player,” he said. “It was teamwork, and we proved to anyone that we could really play.”
While Kvaratskhelia rightly hailed his teammates, it may well be down to him if Georgia is to spring an even bigger upset against Spain on Sunday.
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