🔬 The Debrief as Georgia produce fairytale story and Belgium sneak through | OneFootball

The final set of EURO 2024 groups were concluded on Wednesday.

Here's The Debrief of the action from day 13.

What happened? 📝

Wednesday's action did nothing to separate the teams in Group E.

All four sides began the day all on three points each, and after a goalless draw between Belgium and Ukraine and a 1-1 stalemate between Slovakia and Romania, the teams finished on four points each for the first time in the history of the Euros.

That ultimately meant that the unlucky Ukraine side went out of the competition on goal difference.

In the evening kick-offs, Georgia stunned Portugal with an outstanding 2-0 win, while Türkiye reached the knockout rounds of the European Championship for the first time since 2008, scoring a last-gasp goal to beat Czech Rebublic 2-1.

Player of the day 🔥

Earlier today, Napoli boss Antonio Conte told reporters that keeping Kvara Kvaratskhelia was a non-negotiable for him.

That task might be about to get a lot tougher, as the Georgian star had all eyes on him when he gave his side the unlikeliest of leads against Portugal after 93 seconds.

The man they called 'Kvaradona' in Naples not only scored that all-important goal, but completed nine from nine passing attempts, two out of two dribbles, recovered the ball five times and was fouled four times, making a nuisance of himself at every turn.

Moment of the day 😍

Not too many people could say they knew of Georges Mikautadze before this tournament began, but plenty of people know him now. He pulled out his now familiar celebration when he converted the penalty to put Georgia 2-0 up.

Who could've predicted it?

Photo of the day 📸

When Cristiano Ronaldo was named in the lineup of a heavily rotated Portugal side, it was clear that he wanted to contribute with a goal .

It wasn't for the lack of trying, but when the number seven had drawn a blank after 66 minutes, he was brought off by boss Roberto Martínez.

Visibly upset and frustrated, Ronaldo kicked out at the hoardings when he was substituted, and it's perhaps no surprise when you consider that he's not used to failing to score.

In fact, this is the first time ever that Ronaldo has failed to score in the group stages of a major tournament.

Is Father Time finally catching up with him?

Stat of the day 📊

Perhaps this is stretching the definition of 'stat' a little bit, but we just had to include this surreal flashback to 2013 when Ronaldo was pictured with Kvaratskhelia in a Georgian football academy.

11 years later and that young lad is scoring against him in one of the biggest upsets in the European Championship.

You couldn't make it up.

What this means 🤔

Ukraine go home, while Belgium's second-place finish in their group means they will face France in the Round of 16.

Slovakia face England in the next round and Romania will play Netherlands.

Türkiye's late win will see them up against Ralf Rangnick's Austria side and Portugal will take on Slovenia.

What they said 🗣️

Belgium forward Kevin De Bruyne on criticism after the disappointing draw: "We tried to win the match and had goalscoring opportunities until the 90th minute. But we didn’t want to take any risks with the corner, because we knew we could concede a goal and then we’re out of the EURO. Sometimes you need to take certain risks, and sometimes you need to be smart, and today I wanted to be smart."

Ukraine defender Illia Zabarnyi spoke about the crushing disappointment of going out: "I'm empty. It's so hard to let our people down. We wanted to give them some positive emotions but we've just done not enough. We played well but, again, it wasn't enough. It's a shame we are eliminated with four points, but we lost our chance in the first game against Romania."

After losing to minnows Georgia, Portugal boss Roberto Martínez said: "It's a defeat. We started with low intensity, we conceded early and that's what Georgia needed. We weren't clear-headed enough with the last pass and in front of goal, and their goalkeeper had an amazing performance. We tried to score but couldn't, and that made Georgia believe all the more. They deserved to win."

What comes next? ⏭️

Those who are enjoying EURO 2024 are going to feel a little bereft over the next two days, as the conclusion of the group stage means that there will now be two rest days for all the sides.

On the plus side, the excitement of the knockouts is due to begin with Italy facing Switzerland on Saturday, followed by hosts Germany taking on Denmark.