Appearing at their first European Championship, Georgia had to record their first ever victory at the tournament to reach the last 16 when they played Portugal in Gelsenkirchen.Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal had already qualified for the last 16 as Group F winners, and their coach Roberto Martinez made eight changes to his team.
It was a frustrating night for Portugal, who were denied on several occasions by Georgia’s impressive goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili. It is a remarkable achievement for Georgia, the former Soviet Republic which is a candidate for European Union membership but is currently immersed in political turmoil over controversial “foreign influence” legislation.
Hakan Calhanoglu’s superb strike put Turkey ahead early in the second half, before Tomas Soucek levelled for the Czechs, for whom Tomas Chory was also shown red after the final whistle. Romania’s 1-1 draw with Slovakia secured the point they both needed to progress, while Ukraine’s brave effort in a 0-0 draw with Belgium was not enough.
Their support reacted furiously at the final whistle in Stuttgart, with captain Kevin De Bruyne appearing to tell his team-mates not to go over to acknowledge them as the whistles and jeers grew louder.“We gave it our all during the three matches, everybody wanted to win the matches. We tried to do this but we didn’t manage to do so,” he added.Ukraine became the first side since the expansion of the Euros to 24 teams to fail to get out of the group stage with four points.
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