Under-21 Group C: Georgia vs Portugal facts

Matchday 3 of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship brings a repeat of a notable opening fixture at the 2023 tournament as Georgia face Portugal at the Sihoť Stadium in Trenčín in the final round of Group C games.

Only one point separates the sides in the section, Portugal level with France on four and Georgia on three. The Portuguese kicked off with a goalless draw against France before equalling their biggest finals win with a 5-0 defeat of Poland in which Geovany Quenda scored twice.

Georgia opened the finals with a 2-1 victory against Poland, Vasil Gordeziani scoring a 94th-minute winner, and looked set to make it two wins from two as they led France 2-1 in the 89th minute only to concede twice, the latter 12 minutes into added time, to suffer their first finals defeat in regulation time.

Previous European U21 Championship meetings

Matches 1
Georgia wins 1
Portugal wins 0
Draws 0
Georgia goals 2
Portugal goals 0

The sides' first competitive meeting came on Matchday 1 of the 2023 finals – also Georgia's debut fixture in the tournament – with first-half goals from Giorgi Gagua (37) and Saba Sazonov (45) sealing victory at the Paichadze Stadium in Tbilisi, Portugal ending with ten men following the 76th-minute dismissal of Tomás Araújo.

Portugal were 4-1 winners against Georgia in a friendly played at the Estádio Municipal José Santos Pinto in Covilhã on 24 September 2022. Paulo Bernardo (15) and Samuel Costa (22) scored in the first half for the home team and, after Giorgi Moistsrapishvili had reduced the Georgia deficit in the 53rd minute, goals in the final half-hour from substitutes Henrique Araújo (62) and Afonso Sousa (76) sealed the win.

Substitute Gustavo Sá scored twice in Portugal's 5-0 Under-18 friendly win against Georgia in Penafiel on 25 March 2022.

Form guide

Georgia

This is the first time Georgia have got through qualifying or even reached the play-offs, but they made their finals debut as co-hosts in 2023.

Two years ago Georgia topped their group ahead of Portugal, Netherlands and Belgium before losing on penalties to Israel in front of a U21 EURO record 44,338 crowd in Tbilisi – not the first time they had set a new best at the Paichadze Stadium in the course of the tournament.

This time round Ramaz Svanadze's team were second to Netherlands in qualifying Group C, picking up 19 points from their ten games (W6 D1 L3). They then beat Croatia 7-6 on penalties after a 3-3 aggregate draw in the play-offs (1-0 h, 2-3 a aet).

Nodar Lominadze was Georgia's top scorer in qualifying with three goals.

Portugal

This is Portugal's 11th appearance in the U21 final tournament; they were runners-up in 1994 to Italy, 2015 to Sweden and 2021 to Germany. They were also third in 2004.

Portugal have now qualified for five of the last six tournaments, reaching two finals in that time – all under long-serving coach Rui Jorge, who was also a runner-up as a player in 1994.

Runners-up to co-hosts Georgia in Group A at the 2023 finals, Portugal were subsequently beaten 1-0 by eventual champions England in the quarter-finals.

In charge since 2010, Rui Jorge oversaw a near faultless qualifying campaign for the 2025 finals, his team winning nine of their ten Group G games (L1) and scoring 33 goals on their way to finishing five points clear of runners-up Croatia.

A late withdrawal before the finals through injury, Fábio Silva was the top scorer in the qualifying group stage with eight goals and is within one of the career record of 15 U21 EURO goals (including qualifying) jointly held by Lampros Choutos (Greece), Tomáš Pekhart (Czechia) and George Puşcaş (Romania).

Links and trivia

Have played in Portugal:
Otar Mamageishvili (Famalicão 2024–)
Giorgi Abuashvili (Porto 2021–23)

Have played together:
Otar Mamageishvili & Rodrigo Pinheiro, Gustavo Sá, Mathias De Amorim (Famalicão 2024–)

Abuashvili played for Porto in the Under-19 and B teams, where he had Rodrigo Pinheiro as a team-mate.