Euro 2024: Can La Roja Get Past the Round of 16 This Time Around?

Spain vs Georgia

The stage is set, and on we go to the Euro 2024 knockout stages! The last 16 championed a gruelling group stage and secured their spot for the next round. One of the latest teams to join the fray are Georgia. This is the first time the Georgians have qualified for a major men’s football tournament, let alone advanced past the group stage.

Meanwhile, their opponents, Spain, have emerged as the best team during the group stage, winning every match and summiting the Group of Death with ease. La Roja are no strangers to the big stage. However, Spain struggled in the Round of 16 in their last three major football tournaments.

It’ll be a David vs Goliath match in Cologne, and it’ll be interesting to see how these football-crazed nations match up against each other when the stakes are this high.

 

Talking Points

Spain are more than happy to face Georgia

La Roja emerged as the only team with spotless Euro 2024 results in the group stages, sweeping Group B contestants Albania, Italy, and Croatia. When the official draw for the tournament was released, everyone’s attention quickly shifted to Group B, which rightfully earned the moniker “Group of Death” as it housed three top-10 clubs in the FIFA rankings.

To garner a perfect record against the so-called group of death is no easy feat, and to garner the only perfect record out of the group stage in the entire European Championships is the stuff of legend, which is why Spain have earned the top spot in the Euro 2024 Power Rankings.

Thanks to their early dominance, De La Fuente and his in-form outfit had about a week of prep time before they headed to Cologne. There, they will face the surprise package, Georgia.

It’s not hard to imagine the Spaniards sleeping with big smiles on their faces when they confirmed that their Round of 16 opponents were the Georgians. This is simply because these nations have been clustered in the same group during the qualifying rounds and clashed in a pair of games, with Spain winning 7-1 on the road in Tbilisi and 3-1 at home in Valladolid.

With clear football superiority over the Georgians, the greatest adversary Spain will encounter in Cologne is themselves, especially given their Round of 16 curse in three of their last major tournament appearances. La Roja lost on penalties at the 2022 and 2018 World Cups and Euro 2016, all of which were in the Round of 16.

However, with their recent form and matchup advantage, De la Fuente and his men have a mega chance of breaking their curse in this edition of the European Championship.

 

Georgia propelled to the knockouts after historic 2-0 win over Portugal

Georgia finished the group stages as the third-best team in their cluster. They needed to put up a stellar performance against the 2016 European Champions, Portugal, to qualify for the knockout stages, and that’s exactly what they did.

The Georgians were winless entering their last group stage match and needed to garner their first-ever European Championship win to advance to the next round. They faced CR7’s Portugal, who had already qualified for the knockouts by securing the top spot in Group F.

With their backs against the wall, Willy Sagnol and his team came out of the gates with one goal: to find the back of the net as many times as possible. True enough, the Georgians only needed two minutes to get things rolling, as Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia stepped up and delivered what may be the most important goal of his international career.

Georges Mikautadze, who claimed the assists in their opening goal, had a crack at it from the penalty spot early in the second half to give his side a security blanket and put Georgia up 2-0.

“The boys really gave us a miracle. Everyone deserves more than thanks. It’s a wonder,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told reporters. “They fought until the end, and apart from the fight, it was proven once again that Georgians have football talent.”

 

History

Their head-to-head tally is as one-sided as it can get. With seven games played in more than two decades, Spain have won six matches, while Georgia have only managed to win once.

Their most recent outings were not too long ago, when they clashed in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. Spain trampled Georgia 7-1 in Tbilisi and 3-1 at home in Valladolid, showing dominance in all facets of the game.

In recent form, Spain remain the only outfit with a perfect record in the current European Championship. It’s also important to mention that La Roja have yet to concede a single goal since arriving in Germany.

Conversely, Georgia’s ambitious campaign to reach the knockout stage shocked the entire football world. Thanks to the Euro 2024 leading scorer, Georges Mikautadze, Georgia has a convincing Cinderella story brewing.

Despite what their past head-to-head results suggest, Georgia’s surging momentum and Mikautadze’s brilliance cannot be overlooked. As my SBOTOP buddy, Renz, a dyed-in-the-wool Georgia fan, recently exclaimed, “In Georgia, we trust!”

 

Betting Tip

The Euro 2024 betting odds have Spain as the 1.21 favourites, with Georgia posing as the 12.00 underdogs. No surprises here. Spain are the best team in the tournament thus far, while Georgia are journeying through unknown territory.

However, Spain’s price of 1.21 might be too conservative for some punters to consider, so my betting tip is their total goals over 2.75 at 1.88.

Based on their recent head-to-heads, Spain seem to have perfected the art of finding the back of the net against Georgia, as La Roja have tallied 10 total goals in their last two games against  the Georgians. That, plus the fact that Georges Mikautadze is having the tournament of his life, means expecting three or more combined goals from these outfits doesn’t seem like a tall ask.

   

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