Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was on the scoresheet again as Georgia put Cyprus to the sword in Sunday’s Euro 2024 qualifier. Willy Sagnol’s side netted four unanswered goals beyond halftime to seal a landslide 4-0 win on home soil and maintain their faint qualification hopes alive.
Fresh off the country’s largest-ever goal-margin win on Thursday night in an 8-0 demolition of Thailand, Georgia returned to competitive action with one goal. Anything other than a win over continental minnows Cyprus would’ve rendered their bid to reach their first Euros finals as an independent nation impossible.
However, Georgia put on a phenomenal second-half performance at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi to arrest a three-game losing run in Euro 2024 qualifiers. After coming off the bench to cap off his side’s emphatic win over Thailand in midweek, Kvaratskhelia returned to the starting lineup against Cyprus and scored again.
Giorgi Chakvetadze played a delightful through ball into the 22-year-old’s stride, with the Napoli ace barely squeezing it past Cyprus goalkeeper Joel Mall to make it 2-0. Kvaratskhelia’s eye-catching scoring exploits for Georgia come amid his troubled spell at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Kvaratskhelia has only netted once in seven Serie A appearances for Napoli this season. But he has made up for the lack of goals with four assists. His free-scoring form for Georgia can put the smiles back on the Partenopei fans’ faces as Rudi Garcia’s men bid to recover from a sluggish start to their Scudetto defense.
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