Georgia coach Sagnol: I am very proud to be their coach. We showed what kind of team our national team has

Georgia has had the greatest success in the history of football. The country on the border of South-East Europe and South-West Asia has fought its way to the EURO and has now advanced from the group stage. Coach Willy Sagnol was emotional after the game and described how football is sometimes simple.

Georgia is through to the eighth round of the European Championship. The former soccer midget made it to the EURO and after defeating Turkey, they clinched a valuable point against the Czech Republic to increase their chances of advancing.

Portugal was the last opponent and few believed there would be any major surprises. But it happened, Georgia won 2:0 and can celebrate.

“To be honest, I don’t remember what I said to the players before the game, but the message was to play their football – keep discipline when you don’t have the ball and play when you do.

I told them to remember how they played when they were sixteen or seventeen, without any thoughts, and they did it well today, beyond all expectations,” Georgia coach Willy Sagnol said at a press conference.

“I don’t have many words, but I’m proud of the players because in these three games they showed what kind of team Georgia has. I am very proud to be their coach,” he added.

Georgia can now look forward to the eighth round where they will challenge one of the main favourites to win the tournament in the form of Spain. And why shouldn’t there be a surprise this time too…

“When you’re a “small” team, you know you have nothing to lose. The only thing we told ourselves before the competition started was not to regret not playing our football and enjoying the EURO as we should have,” Sagnol concluded.

The next stage of this year’s European Championship is on Saturday when Italy play Switzerland and Germany play Denmark. Georgia play their match the following evening, before this duel the Slovaks will try to knock out England.

Source: EURO 2024, UEFA