Once a boy who idolized Ronaldo when he came to Georgia to open a football academy in 2013, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia made his idol and the Portuguese team suffer bitter consequences.

The boy who idolized Ronaldo, Kvaratskhelia became the 5th fastest scorer at Euro. Photo: GETTY

The earthquake occurred in the final match of Group F of Euro 2024 , Kvaratskhelia quickly took the ball to punish the mistake of the Portuguese defense in the 2nd minute.

In the 53rd minute, Silva fouled Lochoshvili in the penalty area and after checking VAR, the referee gave Georgia an 11 meter penalty. The player passed to Kvaratskhelia to open the score – Mikautadze made no mistake when he took the penalty kιck and beаt goalkeeper Costa, helping Georgia win 2-0 against Portugal. The achievement also helped Mikautadze temporarily lead the Euro 2024 “Top Scorer” tournament with 3 goals.

Before the earthquake in the early morning of June 27, the idol boy Ronaldo – Kvaratskhelia had the opportunity to take a photo with the “idol”, when CR7 visited the football academy of Dinamo Tbilisi Club in Georgia in 2013.

Photo of Kvaratskhelia (circled in red) taken with idol Ronaldo in 2013.

However, in the reunion 11 years later, while Kvaratskhelia scored to help Georgia defeat Portugal, in the match marking the 50th match at the Euro arena, Ronaldo received a yellow card in the first half for a controversial foul. with the referee. CR7 also expressed frustration when he was replaced and vented his anger on the water bottle.

In the opposite direction, with a goal in 94 seconds, Kvaratskhelia became the 5th fastest scorer at Euro. For Ronaldo personally, this is also the first time he has not “fired” in the group stage in 6 times attending the finals of the European Football Championship.

Defeating Portugal – the team that won the next round and used the reserve team – was the biggest result for Georgia since the country separated from the Soviet Union in 1991.

After 11 years, Kvaratskhelia and Ronaldo are now on two front lines.

With a disappointing 4th place in the Euro qualifiers, idol boy Ronaldo – Kvaratskhelia and his teammates had to go through a roundabout route to Germany. First was winning the unattractive group in the Nations League, then defeating Greece in the play-off match.

However, the result that coach Willy Sagnol – former defender of Bayern Munich and the French national team – helped Georgia achieve, 3rd place in Group F, is like a fairy tale . Thereby, setting up a clаsh with champion candidate Spain (3-time Euro champion) in the 1/8 round.

Georgia’s victory also helped decide the other matches. England will face Slovakia, Romania will face the Netherlands while Portugal will face Slovenia in the knockout round.