Portugal coach Roberto Martínez was at pains to put a positive spin on a forgettable night for the Seleção saying, “now we are better prepared” for the next match against Slovenia.
Meanwhile midfielder João Palhinha jumped to the defence of António Silva, and defenders Nélson Semedo and Diogo Dalot talked about learning the lessons from the defeat.
On the other side of the coin, Georgia’s star man Khvicha Kvaratskhelia spoke of his joy at swapping shirts with Cristiano Ronaldo and interacting with the Portugal captain, on what he described as “the happiest day of my life.”
PortuGOAL rounds up the match reaction.
Portugal’s 2-0 defeat to Georgia is a little difficult to assess, beyond stating that the performance was poor and the Seleção were deservedly beaten. Manager Roberto Martínez was clearly using the game to give certain players a rest, offer more minutes to others and involve some of the fringe players
Portugal’s perfect run at Euro 2024 came to a close in Gelsenkirchen where they suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat against Georgia.
Portugal boss Roberto Martínez has confirmed that skipper Cristiano Ronaldo is in line for his third consecutive start of the tournament when the Seleção completes its final Group F game versus Georgia on Wednesday night.
“I’m not going to carry out a revolution, but I will rotate. There are lots of players who deserve to be in the eleven.”