06/27/2024
In the 36 matches that were played in the group stage of the Euro 2024 81 goals were scored. That number of celebrations were scored by 74 different players. Of these, only 6 did it more than once.
The remaining 68 scored one goal at a time. However, 8 scored in their own goal (own goals). Among this universe of scorers, super-famous stars such as the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo have not managed to score. Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane, who on paper were the potential candidates to fight for the golden boot, have only scored one goal.
A “rejected” scorer
The lack of forcefulness to define that the big names have had in the Euro was made up for by the surprising appearance of the young forward of the Georgia team, Georges Mikautadze, who with three goals in as many games is –partially– the top scorer of this edition of the tournament.
Mikautadze He is 23 years old. He is white, with black hair combed millimetrically back and a thick, somewhat messy beard, which gives him an air of hipster, alternative, contemporary. His prominent bushy eyebrows give depth to his light eyes. At first glance it looks Turkish.
He is 1.76 metres tall and was born in Lyon, France, but is of Georgian origin. His parents were born in the country located near Turkey. They migrated to France in the mid-1990s, seeking a better future after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
They never lost touch with their roots. They had Georges in French territory, but his upbringing was based on Georgian culture. They used to take him to visit that country when he was a child. But after 2011, when the little boy was 11 years old, they stopped doing it.
The teenager began to want to stay in Lyon, among other things because he played football. I was in the Olympique youth academy of that city, traveling the first steps of the path that would lead him towards the dream of his life: to be a professional soccer player.
He was a talented player. He didn’t just score goals. He also provided assists. He also liked to get out of the box, do some dribbling and was fast. He began to be compared to Karim Benzema, an idol in Lyon, the city where he was born and a great reference for the team where both were trained.
However, one thing differentiated them, their height. Benzema is 1.85 meters tall. Mikautadze only reached 1.76 meters, a good height for a midfielder, a fast winger. However, during the training process young Georges shone. He managed to stand out so much that he was called up several times to the French youth teams.
He reached the U-19 level representing France.But in 2018 he went through a difficult situation: he was taken out of the lower divisions of Lyon. Fortunately, he reached Metz. In the team from the city in the northeast of France he finished his training.
The moment of the “explosion”
He debuted as a professional on December 7, 2019. He was 19 years old And, although it cost him a lot of effort, he achieved his dream. Although his first game in Ligue 1 was a nightmare: his team lost 4-1 against OGC Nice.
In June 2020 he was loaned to Seraing in the second division of Belgian football. That was when he really took off as a player. In the 24 games he played, he scored 22 goals. He was close to averaging one per game. He helped the team to get promoted to the first division.
The loan was extended for another year. In Belgium’s top tournament he scored 14 goals in 33 games. His name began to appear. However, he could not get into Didier Deschamps’ squad, who has Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembelé and Mbappé himself among his usual forwards.
Georgia, “the lifeguard”
When Georges Mikautadze was playing in Belgium, he was contacted by French coach Willy Sagnol, the national coach of Georgia. He convinced him to join the national team of the country that, according to the latest census data, has a population of 3.7 million inhabitants (about 100,000 less than the Aburrá Valley).
Georges accepted. “The coach called me and I didn’t think much about it. I haven’t been to Georgia since 2011, but it feels like my country, just like France, and since I was little I dreamed of playing for the national team. For my parents it is a pride to see his son represent Georgia,” he said in an interview they did shortly after his debut with that cast.
That led him to return to France. Metz signed him again. He was key to their promotion to the first division in 2023 with the 24 goals he scoredeither. Then he went to Ajax. He didn’t adapt. He returned to the team training him. He shone and was called up to play with Georgia in the first European Championship in its history.
He is one of the 81 “naturalized” players who are taking part in the tournament. The goals he scored against the Czech Republic, Portugal and Turkey, as well as the assists he recorded, have him competing not only for the goalscorer award, but also for being a potential winner of the best player of the tournament award. He is, at the moment, the most influential in terms of participation in the offensive part of the entire tournament. Like his team, classified to the round of 16, Georges is also one of the surprises of Euro 2024.
Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, a gem of Georgia
Georgia’s number 7 Kvicha Kvaratskhelia has established himself as one of the stars of the Euros. He is known by some as the Maradona of Caucasus and plays for Napoli, a club he is said to want to leave but coach Antonio Conte has asked to keep him in the squad.
He is 23 years old and grew up admiring Guti (José María Gutiérrez), the Spaniard who played 15 seasons with Real Madrid. Kvaratskhelia is ambidextrous, fast and has magic in his feet.
With the development of two matches per day, the round of 16 of the Euro Cup will begin this Saturday. At 11:00 am, Colombia time, Italy and Switzerland will face each other, while at 2:00 pm Germany and Denmark will do so.
On Sunday, England will play Slovakia (11:00 am) and Spain will play Georgia (2:00 pm), on Monday, France will play Belgium first thing in the morning and then Portugal will face Slovenia. On Tuesday, the round will close with Romania and the Netherlands (11:00 am) and Austria and Turkey (2:00 pm).
The Austrian National Team is another of the great surprises of Euro 2024. Despite the predictions, it finished first in the group, with six points, beating the favorites France (5) and the Netherlands (4). They beat Poland (3-1) and the Netherlands (3-2), and lost by the slimmest difference (1-0) to France. A present that could continue to improve, since in the round of 16 they will face Turkey, next Tuesday, July 2, at 2:00 in the afternoon, in search of progress to the quarterfinals.
