Georgia and Czechia played to a 1-1 draw in their second group stage match at EURO 2024 on Saturday afternoon.
The match, featuring several players from Italy’s Serie A, saw Georgia earning their first-ever point in a major tournament.
The video assistant referee, VAR, played a crucial role, disallowing a goal by Czech forward Adam Hlozek due to a handball.
Georgia, making their EURO debut, went ahead with a Georges Mikautadze penalty, awarded after Czech defender Robin Hranec’s handball.
Czechia equalized when Patrik Schick capitalized on a rebound off the post, scoring with his chest.
Schick later left the game with a calf injury. Georgia nearly secured victory, but Saba Lobjanidze’s last-minute shot missed narrowly.
The draw leaves both teams needing a win in their final group matches to advance to the knockout stages.
Turkey and Portugal, the other teams in Group F, are set to play later on Saturday.
Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, despite a pre-match injury scare, started for Georgia and played 82 minutes before being substituted by Atlanta United’s Saba Lobjanidze.
Czechia thought they had taken the lead midway through the first half with Hlozek’s goal, but it was ruled out for handball after a VAR review.
Late substitutions included Cremonese’s Luka Lochoshvili for Georgia and Fiorentina’s Antonin Barak for Czechia.
Both teams are now at the bottom of Group F, but still have a chance to progress depending on the results of the upcoming matches between Portugal and Turkey, and their own final group stage games next week.
