VALENCIA. Georgi Mamardashvili continues his process of revaluation. The Valencian goalkeeper was once again a prominent bastion that has allowed the Georgian national team to win a match at the Euro for the first time, in its debut in the tournament as a team in the tournament and also to reach the last 16 as third in the group, which will lead them to face Spain on Sunday.
Once again, the Valencia CF goalkeeper was decisive and has proven to be one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament, continuing the MVP that the goalkeeper already achieved in the previous match against the Czech Republic. The feeling is that the match could have lasted three more hours and Mamardashvili would have ended up stopping any Portuguese attack.
The story begins after Georgia took the lead in the 2nd minute, Portugal poured into the Georgian field but found a confident Mamardashvili who intervened successfully on 5 occasions.
The first (and most complicated) was a distant but very hard free kick from Cristiano Ronaldo in the 16th minute and the Valencian goalkeeper’s response was pragmatic as he put his fists in instead of trying to block due to the power of the shot. In the 22nd minute Joao Palhinha put the Georgian wall to the test from outside the area but this time the goalkeeper blocked very safely after kneeling on the ground. The third intervention of the first 45 minutes came when he tapped away a dangerous cross from Pedro Neto from the left. In the last minute, Joao Fèlix tested Mamardashvili again but the Valencia CF goalkeeper blocked very safely down next to the post. And the last scare of the first act came in a corner that Portugal threw directly at the goal, and that found the response from the goalkeeper’s fists, who got the ball out of him as best he could, avoiding the Portuguese goal of the tie.
The stoppage of the game (and perhaps of the Euro) so far came 10 minutes into the second half. A Portuguese attack ended with a cannon shot by Diego Dalot from the edge of the area at the Georgian squad. Mamardashvili flew to his left to take a ball with his right hand that was impossible for any other goalkeeper. It is true that the goal would not have gone up on the scoreboard because it all started with a penalty in the Portuguese area not called by the referee that ended up being corrected by the VAR and that served for the Georgians to score their second goal. However, it is also true that at those moments the ball was actually in play and therefore this does not detract one bit of merit from the intervention of the Valencian goalkeeper.
It was not until the 73rd minute that the Georgian appeared again after a cross from the right by the Portuguese attack by Francisco Conceiçao that the Valencian goalkeeper safely resolved by cutting his rival’s delivery over the top in the small area.
He still displayed his prodigious powers again at the end. With the score already at 2-0, he worked hard against a cross from Joao Félix from the left of the Iberian attack that Semedo finished off at the far post just two meters from the goal. After making a commendable reflex intervention by rejecting from short, Mamardashvili reacted in a feline manner to catch his own rebound in a small area without giving the rival forwards any option.
And the final shot came in the 92nd minute with another successful shot to his left after another shot from Diego Dalot from the front who was looking for the post of the Caucasian goal.
Mamardashvili proves his worth in every match while Singapore may well be rubbing his hands. On a personal level, the goalkeeper has made history and is an undisputed hero who has allowed his country, first, to participate in a Euro, then win a match for the first time (with a clean sheet) and also get into the round of 16. There, Spain awaits them, having beaten them in the qualifying phase, so there will surely be a desire for revenge.
