VELBERT: Willy Sagnol ranked just qualifying for Euro 2024 with Georgia as one of the finest achievements in his impressive football career, but the Frenchman topped that by leading the tournament’s rank outsiders into the knockout stages where they face Spain on Sunday. The country of 3.7 million people in the Caucasus sits 74th in the FIFA rankings and had never been to a major tournament since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. “I thought we reached our maximum by qualifying in March,” Sagnol admitted after Georgia beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the last 16.

“To be here was already a big challenge. To qualify for the last 16 we maybe dreamt about without thinking it was doable.” Georgia got to the Euros in a rather roundabout way, finishing fourth in their qualifying group behind Spain, Scotland and Norway.

However, their impressive performances in the Nations League gave them another crack at making it via the play-offs, in which they beat Luxembourg and then defeated Greece on penalties. “In emotional terms, qualifying for the Euros meant as much to me as winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich. I consider it to be a title. It is my first trophy as a coach,” Sagnol told French newspaper L’Equipe. Georgia’s success on the pitch, where they are led by Napoli’s old-school winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, comes at a time of political turmoil in the country.

Political turmoil

There have been weeks of protests against a controversial “foreign influence” bill, which requires NGOs and media outlets receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as bodies “pursuing the interests of a foreign power”.

Protesters are concerned the bill represents a shift back toward Russia in the former Soviet republic which is a candidate for European Union membership.

This week Sagnol reacted angrily when it was put to him that striker Budu Zivzivadze was being left out of the team at the Euros due to his reported criticism of the law. Showing an excellent command of English, Sagnol called those making such suggestions “twats”. “I can’t accept that any longer,” he snapped. “I’m a football coach, I’m nothing else.” On Friday, there was a much more laid-back atmosphere as Sagnol gathered his players together in the sunshine on their training pitch in Velbert, where the stadium looks down over the Ruhr valley towards the city of Essen.

Sagnol, who along with his coaching staff talks to the players in English, is at home in Germany. He played for Bayern for almost a decade, winning the Champions League with them in 2001. Sagnol also played in the France side that lost the 2006 World Cup final on penalties to Italy in Berlin. The German-link is what led to him becoming Georgia’s coach. Levan Kobiashvili, head of the Georgian Football Federation, knew him as an opponent when he too was playing in the Bundesliga, as did his vice-president Alexander Iashvili.

Sagnol, previously in charge of Bordeaux, became Georgia coach in early 2021. “There was an immediate sense of trust with them, and I accepted the job with immense joy and ambition,” Sagnol told FIFA.com. He now has an apartment in Tbilisi where he lives for much of the year.

Just after taking charge, Sagnol’s Georgia played Spain at home in a 2022 World Cup qualifier. They went ahead, but Spain came back to win 2-1 thanks to a stoppage-time goal. Spain beat them 4-0 at home in that campaign, and won both meetings in qualifying for this tournament, including a 7-1 victory in Tbilisi.

That shows the size of the task awaiting Georgia in Cologne, even if they have outstanding players beyond Kvaratskhelia in striker Georges Mikautadze - top scorer in the group stage with three goals - and Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili. “When you are the small team of the competition, you know you have nothing to lose,” said Sagnol. “The only thing we said before the competition was that, whatever happens, we don’t want to have any regrets.

“We don’t have pressure. The only responsibility we had at the beginning of the competition was to make the Georgian nation proud of our players. I think we have done it the best way.” – AFP