Georgia's talisman Khvicha Kvaratskhelia turned in a man-of-the-match performance to propel his country into the last 16 of Euro 2024 with a historic 2-0 win over Portugal, inspired by a pre-match pep talk from his childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo.
Kvaratskhelia scored Georgia's opener inside two minutes to stun the former Euro champions and then produced a sensational display of all-action dribbling, before he was withdrawn to a standing ovation with a quarter of an hour to play.
The 23-year-old forward, on whose shoulders the hopes of many Georgian fans rest, spoke before the match about his dreams of playing against Ronaldo and getting his idol's shirt.
Before Georgia's must-win game, a photo from 2013 of Ronaldo visiting a football academy in Tbilisi circulated on social media showing the Portuguese great surrounded by excited young footballers – among them Kvaratskhelia.
In 2013, Ronaldo opened a football academy in Georgia, and one of the children there was Kvaratskhelia.🇬🇪🇵🇹
— The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) June 26, 2024
Tonight, Kvaratskhelia scored in the first minute vs Portugal…🤯
What a story!🤩 pic.twitter.com/3M1BzalFBr
But the Napoli winger showed on Wednesday that he is now on equal terms with one of his footballing idols and revealed he had 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 also offered words of encouragement before the game, Kvaratskhelia said – though the Portuguese player may now regret having done so.
"When he comes to you before the match and when he says that 'I wish you success', that is amazing," Kvaratskhelia said.
"I realised that actually I could do and we could do so many things today because it gave us so much incentive."
Georgia 2-0 Portugal highlights
Kvaratskhelia – affectionately dubbed "Kvaradona" by adoring supporters of his club Napoli, with whom he won the Italian title in 2023 – 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, however, Kvaratskhelia insisted 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 was right to hail his teammates, it may well be down to him if Georgia are to spring an even bigger upset against Spain.
The founder of Georgia's ruling party, billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, said today that he would donate 30 million lari (€10m) to the team after they qualifIed for the last 16.
Ivanishvili, who is worth €4.5 billion, pledged a further 30 million lari if Georgia beat Spain on Sunday.
In a statement, his Georgian Dream party said Ivanishvili congratulated the team and pledged the money from his charitable foundation in recognition of what he called a "historic and dream victory".
The Georgian capital Tbilisi erupted in celebration last night after the win, with people celebrating on the streets, waving national flags from car windows and letting off fireworks.
It was the first time Georgia have qualified for a major international tournament, let alone advanced beyond the group stage.
In Tbilisi, amid blaring horns, people could be heard chanting "Sakartvelo!", the local word for the country's name.
Georgia arrived at Euro 2024 with no expectations, manager Willy Sagnol said, having already celebrated what they thought would be their biggest achievement in just qualifying.
"When you're the small team, you know you have nothing to lose," the Frenchman said. "The only thing we said before the competition is whatever happened, we don't want any regrets after the competition, the regret of maybe not having played our football or maybe not having enjoyed the competition as much as we should have done.
"So, you have no weight on your shoulders. It's difficult when you're France, when you're England, when you're Spain, when you're Portugal, because you're under pressure, because people expect you to win.
"The only responsibility we had was to make the Georgian nation proud of their players. And I think we've done it the best way."
"We didn't even try to know before the match if we would win, we would play maybe against this team or maybe this team, because we're not like that.
"We just take the things the way it comes. And Spain is coming. Spain is probably the best team of the first round. So it's another big challenge for us."
Portugal manager Roberto Martinez was left with much to ponder after his decision to rotate his squad backfired.
With Portugal qualified for the last-16, Martinez began with only three of the players that started the victory over Turkey, including Ronaldo.
But if Martinez hoped a few players would push themselves into contention for the knockout round clash with Slovenia, he was left disappointed as Portugal were outplayed.
"It's a defeat. We started with low intensity, we conceded early and that's what Georgia needed," Martinez said.
"We weren't clear-headed enough with the last pass and in front of goal, and their goalkeeper had an amazing performance. We tried to score but couldn't and that made Georgia believe all the more. They deserved to win.
"Today was the day to give other players an opportunity, players that we needed to see how they were doing, players with their own worth. Today I didn't want to put on Ruben Diaz, Bernardo (Silva) or Bruno Fernandes."
"We didn't underestimate Georgia, but Georgia were playing the game of their history" - Roberto Martinez
Tens of thousands of raucous Georgia fans roared their side, ranked 74th in the world, to victory over the 2016 champions on what proved a frustrating night for Ronaldo.
He failed to score in the group stage of a major international tournament for the first time in his career, having registered in the previous 10 he had appeared in, dating back to Euro 2004.
Although the shock defeat stung, Martinez said it could work as a wake-up call.
"We didn't underestimate Georgia, but Georgia were playing the game of their history," he said. "And we were playing the last game when we were already top of the group.
"It was difficult for us to match the same intensity. Losing today will prepare our team better from a mental standpoint.
"I changed seven or eight players from the last game and I wanted all the players to be as well prepared as possible for the knockout stages."
Martinez was full of praise for Georgia.
"They showed an incredible belief," he said. "I'm sure that scoring early helps, but probably the biggest surprise was that they were able to maintain the level of belief and intensity for 90 minutes.
"I think the coach has done an incredible job and they deserve the credit today."
Watch every game from Euro 2024 on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player as well as highlights and goals as they happen on RTÉ Sport digital platforms
