Outsider Georgia has surprisingly reached the quarter-finals of a U21 European Championship for the first time and is a possible opponent of the German team there.
A 1-1 (1-1) draw against the Netherlands in Tbilisi was enough for the co-hosts to win the group with five points. Georgia would face Germany on Saturday should the defending champions still qualify for the knockout stages on Wednesday.
Portugal secured second place and thus also the ticket for the knockout stages with a 2-1 (0-0) victory over Belgium, the former Bayern professional Tiago Dantas only scored the winning goal in the 89th minute. The Portuguese are now up against England, with Belgium and the Netherlands eliminated.
Georgia took the lead after a nice solo by Zuriko Davitashvili (42nd). After Kenneth Taylor equalized (45+6), the Dutch pushed for the winning goal, but it didn’t want to come.
The Portuguese, who were under pressure to win, took the lead through Joao Neves (56th) before Belgium could dream of the quarter-finals thanks to the equalizer from Yorbe Vertessen (65th). Tiago Dantas, who made two Bundesliga appearances for Bayern in the 2020/21 season, converted a penalty just before the end.