Georgia vs Spain

The stakes are high for Georgia and Spain as they lock horns at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in an exciting Euro 2024 qualifier.

Georgia’s quest to qualify for their first-ever European Championships as an independent country has been off to a mixed three-game start (W1, D1, L1), bookended by a 2-0 defeat at Scotland last time out. Despite starting this round as qualifying Group A runners-up, the Georgians will have to defy the odds to protect their place, having lost all four previous meetings with Spain in all competitions, excluding friendlies. They conceded nine goals in those four matches, including a 2-1 defeat in Willy Sagnol’s home debut in March 2021. Though the Frenchman lost back-to-back home games in the wake of that result, he has since masterminded an outrageous seven-game unbeaten run on home soil (W5, D2), with Georgia registering five clean sheets in that stretch.

On the other hand, Spain got their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign off to a flying start, dismantling Norway 3-0 on home turf. However, Luis de la Fuente’s side inexplicably lost 2-0 at Scotland in the previous round, marking their first defeat in European Championship qualifiers since 2014. However, ‘La Furia Roja’ recovered from that dismal result with an eye-catching UEFA Nations League triumph in June. But with nine points separating them from Group A pacesetters Scotland, the Spaniards must get back on track in the qualifying cycle. Since they head into proceedings on their longest wait for an away win in Euro qualifiers since the 1990s (D2, L1), they cannot take anything for granted.