Willy Sagnol says Georgia have “already won Euro 2024” and vowed to attack Spain in tomorrow’s round of 16 clash in Cologne.
Georgia have won the hearts of many neutrals with their bold play in Germany – an approach that saw them beat already-qualified Portugal in their final Group F game.
Their reward was a meeting with Spain, the only side with a 100 per cent record in the tournament.
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Former Bayern Munich full-back Sagnol has worked wonders and is not fearful of facing a team that thrashed them 7-1 in qualifying.
He said: “Of course it was a difficult moment for us, but sometimes to get further in life you need moments like that where it’s very difficult, where you think you’re not good and you think you have done everything bad.
“Without difficulties, you can’t have great achievements. It was a part of our journey. If we are here today, I am sure this 7-1 taught us a lot of things and we learned a lot.
“Tomorrow is another match. We will go into this game with a lot of confidence because we have absolutely nothing to lose. For me, we already won Euro 2024 and I am very excited to be once more on the pitch and to hear the Georgian national anthem in a great stadium.”
“Kvaratskheliaaaaaaaaaaaa” 🇬🇪❤️#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/WFDGfVw1QG
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 28, 2024
Georgia possess the tournament’s leading scorer in Georges Mikautadze as well as flamboyant winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Attack is their best form of defence and Sagnol has no intention of changing his side’s front-foot tactics.
He added: “Against Spain, Portugal, big teams, when you’re Georgia, if you only think about how to defend, you know at some point you will crumble.
“So, no, we are not only going to defend. Like against Portugal, we will show the Spanish team and Europe that we are not only good at defending, but also using the ball. We had great moments in possession against Portugal and I hope tomorrow we can see same kind of performance.
“You can’t tell your players every day for weeks, ‘Play freely, take risks, don’t calculate, do that, do that and do that’ and just for the knockout stage have a different speech with them. No, no.
“I give a lot of importance to our defensive strategy and our discipline, but once the players have the ball, they know they can do everything they want. Football is not mathematics or a chess game, you also have to play with your feelings.”
