La Roja was scared, but it will compete well in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024. Led by Georgia in the round of 16, Spain escaped the trap thanks to goals from Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams and Dani Olmo (4-1). The Spaniards will therefore face Germany in the next round, on Friday July 5 at 6 p.m., in one of the first big shocks of the competition.
The match had started very badly for Alvaro Morata and his teammates. Largely dominant, the Spaniards came up against an excellent Giorgi Mamardashvili, author of another high-class match, with eight saves to his name. Despite the lack of possession, the Georgians showed superb realism in the counterattack, and took advantage of an approximation by Robin Le Normand to open the scoring. Put under pressure by a dangerous cross from Kakabadze, the Real Sociedad defender pushed the ball into his own goal and conceded the opening goal (18th).
Rodri and Fabian Ruiz reassuring
The equalization took a long time to arrive. It was finally via a long shot from Rodri, a specialist in the exercise, that relief came. At the helm at the entrance to the area, the Manchester City midfielder first distributed the play before receiving the ball on his left foot. He didn’t need to be asked to unleash a superb cross-field shot at ground level which mystified the Georgian goalkeeper (39th).
Confident and reassured, the Spaniards hammered the nail in the coffin at the start of the second half. Fabian Ruiz, still excellent on Sunday evening, like his Euro 2024 performance, was on the receiving end of a superb cross from Lamine Yamal. Not used to these header attempts, the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder sent a diving header at the goalkeeper, but the power of the move allowed the ball to end up in the net.
Worn out by the efforts made since the first minute, the Georgians never had the slightest opportunity to come back to score. Worse, Nico Williams increased the score in the 75th minute after a superb number. Alerted by Fabian Ruiz on the left side, the Bilbao winger eliminated his opponent before finishing in the ceiling of the Georgian goal. Dani Olmo then closed the proceedings in the 83rd minute with a beautiful strike from the left.
Thanks to its fourth success in as many games, La Roja will therefore face Germany, saved by the VAR against Denmark this Saturday evening, in the quarter-finals. A huge duel between two undefeated and rather convincing teams since the start of the competition.
