Georgia and Czechia were held to a 1-1 draw in the second round of group stage fixtures at EURO 2024 on Saturday afternoon in a game that featured a handful of players currently plying their trade in Italy.
Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was the only Serie A representative in either side’s starting line-up, although he risked missing the game after suffering a knock during Georgia’s warm up.
The 23-year-old recovered in time, however, and played for 82 minutes before being replaced by Atlanta United winger Saba Lobzhanidze.
It was Czechia who thought they had taken the lead midway through the first period, however Adam Hlozek’s effort was eventually ruled out for handball after a long throw-in.
A handball at the other end is what gave Georgia a 1-0 advantage moments before half-time. Robin Hranac was deemed to have handled the ball in the area after a lengthy VAR review, which allowed Georges Mikautadze to officially open the scoring from the penalty spot.
Patrick Shick then had Czechia level again one minute shy of the hour mark.
After the equaliser went in, Cremonese defender Luka Lochoshvili was introduced for Georgia, replacing Dinamo Batumi winger Georgiy Tsitaishvili. Fiorentina’s Antonin Barak was also brought on for Czechia in place of Lukas Provod for the final 10 minutes of normal time.
Both nations are now in the bottom two positions of Group F, but both still have a chance of qualifying depending on results between Portugal and Turkey, as well as in the final round of group stage matches next week.
EURO 2024: Georgia 1-1 Czechia
Mikautadze (G) 45+4′, Schick (C) 59′.
Player statistic
| 18' |  |
Vladimir Coufal | ||
| Guram Kashia | |
36' | ||
| 40' | |
Lukas Provod | ||
| Georges Mikautadze |  |
45+3' |
| 47' | |
David Jurasek | ||
| 53' | |
Tomas Holes | ||
| 59' |  |
Patrik Schick (Assist: Ondrej Lingr) | ||
| 81' | |
Tomas Soucek | ||
| Giorgi Gvelesiani | |
82' | ||
| Anzor Mekvabishvili | |
83' | ||
| Giorgi Kochorashvili | |
90+5' |
Match statistic
