Georgia can continue to dream of taking part in a European Football Championship for the first time. The team coached by Willy Sagnol celebrated a 2-0 win against Luxembourg in the play-off semi-finals in Tbilisi on Tuesday and will now fight again in front of their home crowd on Tuesday against the newcomers from the duel between Greece and Kazakhstan for a place in the finals this year in Germany. The winner of this game will play in a European Championship group with Turkey, Portugal and the Czech Republic.
APA/AFP/Giorgi Arjevanidze
The Georgians had to play against Luxembourg without their suspended star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia; in the absence of the Napoli professional, Budu Zivzivadze became the match winner. The striker, who plays for Karlsruher SC, scored in the 41st minute after a corner and poor defense from Luxembourg and in the 64th minute after optimal preparatory work by Levan Shengelia. In addition, Zivzivadze was unlucky with a shot from the pole in the 13th minute.
VAR canceled 1:1
However, the match could have been overturned in the 53rd minute. Gerson Rodrigues scored the supposed 1-1, but then the VAR intervened and referred to a scene about a minute earlier in which Georges Mikautadze fell after a challenge with Maxime Chanot.
The Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez took the score back to 1-1 and instead gave a red card to Chanot and the free kick, which Shengelia hit the crossbar (58th). Sagnol let Sturm Graz legionnaire Otar Kiteishvili play through and Sandro Altunashvili (WAC) sit on the bench. For Luxembourg, Austria Wien’s Marvin Martins came on as a substitute in the 42nd minute.
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