Wednesday 26 June 2024 22:08
Group F concluded this stage of Euro 2024 and there was a surprise as Georgia upset Portugal 2-0.
Diogo Dalot started for Roberto Martinez's men, who had already assured top spot, performing in an interesting role that combined his defensive and attacking talents. However, he moved to centre-back after Georgia went 2-0 ahead, with Cristiano Ronaldo one of the players making way.
Bruno Fernandes, who scored against Turkey in the last match, remained an unused substitute.
Georgia, who have qualified for the knockout stages despite appearing in their first finals, struck a lightning bolt after only 92 seconds. Antonio Silva's sloppy pass was seized upon by Georges Mikautadze, and his ball to Kvicha Kvaratskhelia was ruthlessly finished by the left boot of the Napoli star.
There was real drama after the break when Antonio Silva kicked Luka Lochoshvili inside the Portugal box but play continued and Dalot's marvellously curling drive produced an even better save out of the highly rated Giorgi Mamardashvili. It need not have mattered as VAR brought the referee to the screen to award a penalty for the earlier incident. Up stepped Mikautadze to continue his run of scoring in every game, firing past Diogo Costa.
On a personal level, Dalot had a header off target in the 18th minute and did some impressive defending. He shut down danger man Kvaratskhelia on a couple of occasions, once with a clean tackle inside the box, and, in the dying seconds, forced another smart stop out of Mamardashvili. The defender will hope he has done enough to keep his place for the round of 16, when Fernandes looks certain to return.
Elsewhere in Group F, Turkey sealed their place in the knockouts, beating 10-man Czech Republic 2-1 with an injury-time winner.
Altay Bayindir reverted to the bench but his side were boosted when Antonin Barak was sent off after 20 minutes, for two bookable offences. Turkey went in front, six minutes after the interval, courtesy of Hakan Calhanoglu's sweeping finish, only for an error by Altay's replacement, Mert Gunok, to eventually lead to Tomas Soucek's equaliser.
An ex-United keeper was in the news, though, with Matej Kovar replacing Jindrich Stanek, five minutes after the Turkey goal. It was a proud moment for the club's Academy as Kovar, now with Bayer Leverkusen, made an appearance on the big stage.
However, he was powerless to prevent the late sting in the tail from Cenk Tosun, that confirmed the Czechs' exit.
ROUND-OF-16 FIXTURES
Saturday
Switzerland v Italy (17:00 BST)
Germany v Denmark (20:00 BST)
Sunday
England v Slovakia (17:00 BST)
Spain v Georgia (20:00 BST)
Monday
France v Belgium (17:00 BST)
Portugal v Slovenia (20:00 BST)
Tuesday
Romania v Netherlands (17:00 BST)
Austria v Turkey (20:00 BST)