Spain vs Georgia Prediction: Expert Analysis and Match Preview
Georgia taken aback the continent by claiming a big Portugal scalp to get their first-ever victory at European Championships.
The 2-0 win over Portugal sent the Georgians through to the round of 16 in their inaugural appearance at a main tournament.
Georgia will now experience the event of dealing with Group B winners Spain in the round of 16 on Sunday evening at Cologne Stadium.
Spain enters this on the back of five consecutive wins across competitions. La Furia Roja won six of their last seven meetings with Georgia. Spain placed ten goals past Georgia in their two H2H encounters during the 2024 Euro qualifying campaign. Georgia allowed four goals in the opening two outings in the tournament. Spain left the best impression out of all teams in the group phase of the Euro. They are the only team with all three wins so far in the competition.
La Furia Roja are yet to concede a goal in the tournament. They have managed a goal difference of 5-0 along the way.
Georgia entered the final group game with just one point to their name. However, they took advantage of Portugal’s rotations within the squad to clinch the biggest victory in the group’s history.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Georges Mikautadze were on target in a 2-0 win for Willy Sagnol’s troops on Wednesday.
Spain vs Georgia Predicted Lineups and Team News
Luis de la Fuente modified his entire first team bar Aymeric Laporte in the last group game against Albania. We expect him to recall the players who clinched incredible wins over the likes of Croatia and Italy in the first two rounds.
As for the Georgians, Sagnol can’t count on Anzor Mekvabishvili who was booked late in the match against Portugal. Mekvabishvili was not a starter in the group stage anyway. We anticipate the same starting XI for Georgia as the one that began the match against Portugal four days ago.
Spain (4-3-3): Simon – Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Cucurella – Pedri, Rodri, Ruiz – Yamal, Morata, Williams
Georgia (5-3-2): Mamardashvili – Kakabadze, Gvelesiani, Kashia, Lochoshvili, Dvali – Chakvetadze, Kochorashvili, Kiteishvili – Mikautadze, Kvaratskhelia
Spain to End Georgia’s Fairytale Run
Georgia greatly surprised a non-motivated and rotated Portugal squad on Wednesday. They are now set to face a highly-motivated and full-strength Spanish side in an elimination clash.
La Furia Roja have scored five unanswered goals in the group stage. They will come into this on the back of five straight wins across competitions. Spain has also won six of the last seven head-to-head meetings with Georgia. The run includes two wins in the 2024 Euro qualifying campaign. The Spanish team celebrated a 7-1 victory in the away game against Georgia less than a year ago.
As for the Georgians, they began the tournament with a 1-3 defeat to Turkey. A 1-1 stalemate with the Czech Republic left them in contention for the knockouts while a 2-0 win over Portugal sent the team through the roof.
With all due respect to the Georgians, Spain should have too much for them in such an important tie. The main pick is Spain to win by two or more goals difference at the odds of 1.65.
Alvaro Morata to Terrorize Georgian Defense
Alvaro Morata has scored one of his team’s five goals so far in the tournament. He skipped the third match against Albania and should be fresh for the tie with the Georgians. The situation is quite clear here. Spain are big favorites and they should get an easy win over the Georgians on Sunday.
We will back their target man to score anytime in these conditions at the odds of 1.95.
