Soccer-Kvaratskhelia realises childhood dream with historic win and Ronaldo's jersey

Soccer Football - Euro 2024 - Group F - Georgia v Portugal - Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, Germany - June 26, 2024 Georgia's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

By Sam Tobin

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) - Georgia's talisman Khvicha Kvaratskhelia turned in a man-of-the-match performance to propel his country into the last 16 of Euro 2024 with a historic 2-0 win over Portugal, inspired by a pre-match pep talk from his childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo.

Kvaratskhelia scored Georgia's opener inside two minutes to stun the former Euro champions and then produced a sensational display of all-action dribbling, before he was withdrawn to a standing ovation with a quarter of an hour to play.

The 23-year-old forward, on whose shoulders the hopes of many Georgian fans rest, spoke before the match about his dreams of playing against Ronaldo and getting his idol's shirt.

Before Georgia's must-win game, a photo from 2013 of Ronaldo visiting a football academy in Tbilisi circulated on social media showing the Portuguese great surrounded by excited young footballers – among them Kvaratskhelia.

But the Napoli winger showed on Wednesday that he is now on equal terms with one of his footballing idols and revealed he had a special memento from the match.

"I have a jersey of Ronaldo," he told reporters. "I got it. And we also made it through the next round. This is the best day in the lives of Georgians.

"Everybody is so happy, we just made history. Nobody would believe that we would make it happen and we would defeat Portugal. But I think this is why we're a strong team."

Ronaldo had also offered words of encouragement before the game, Kvaratskhelia said – though the Portuguese player may now regret having done so.

"When he comes to you before the match and when he says that I wish you success, that is amazing," Kvaratskhelia said. "I realised that actually I could do and we could do so many things today because it gave us so much incentive."

Kvaratskhelia – affectionately dubbed "Kvaradona" by adoring supporters of his club Napoli, with whom he won the Italian title in 2023 – put Georgia's win above even that success.

"This is the best day in my life because it was more difficult to do it with the Georgian team than with the Napoli team," he said.

Despite the personal accolades, however, Kvaratskhelia insisted the basis for Georgia's greatest-ever result was a collective effort.

"There was no individual best player," he said. "It was teamwork and we proved to anyone that we could really play."

While Kvaratskhelia was right to hail his teammates, it may well be down to him if Georgia are to spring an even bigger upset against Spain on Sunday.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Hugh Lawson)