In the Euro 2024 playoffs final, Georgia and Greece battled it out, ultimately concluding in a 0-0 draw, before proceeding to a dramatic penalty shootout. Georgia triumphed, marking their first qualification for these prestigious continental championships. The victory came as a 4-2 win in an electrifying penalty shootout held in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi.
The home team owed its win to Nika Kvekveskiri, whose successful penalty kick tipped the balance in Georgia’s favour, following a missed opportunity by Greece’s Giorgos Giakoumakis. Georgia’s faithful fans roared with approval as Kvekveskiri scored his winning penalty, delivering a gripping finale to the match.
Tensions certainly ran high during the game. Early on, Giorgi Mamardashvili made an impressive save from Anastasios Bakasetas after Georgia took the lead in the penalty shoot-out, but sadly Georgia’s Georges Mikautadze fumbled his penalty kick, offering the Greek team some solace.
However, Giakoumakis’s subsequent blunder and Kvekveskiri’s clever shot allowed Georgia to seize the moment and savour the final victory. Only days before, the Georgian fans had seen their team defeat Luxembourg 2-0 in the semi-finals, and anxiously awaited the final victory in the Tuesday penalty shootout.
Georgia now looks forward to joining Portugal, Turkey, and the Czech Republic in Group F of the main tournament, which gets underway in Germany on June 14th.
The entire match was fraught with tension. Georgia’s substitute goalie, Giorgi Loria, was shown a red card in a half-time melee, and the hosts narrowly missed their chance to secure the win earlier as Zuriko Davitashvili’s close-range shot was blocked by Odysseas Vlachodimos.
Nonetheless, Georgia and its fans jubilantly celebrated making history — a sentiment echoed in a banner which read, “Breaking news, Georgia makes history” — following Kvekveskiri’s winning shot.