Georgia vs Scotland. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats, and more

Georgia will host Scotland in the UEFA EURO 2024 Group A 9th qualification round match at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena. The fixture will take place onThursday, November 16, beginning at 22:30 IST.

Parimatch News will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.

Georgia News & Current Form: 

Before the start of the 9th round, the Georgian national team occupies the fourth place in the Group A standings, having 7 points, which is 8 points less than the national team of Scotland and Spain from the second and first place respectively.  But the Georgians can still contend for the third place, the gap from the Norwegians is only three points, moreover, the wards of Willy Sagnol have one game in reserve. 

Previously in the competition the Red and Whites won two games, drew one match and suffered three defeats. Compared to the other teams, Georgia are scoring few goals, only nine. It should be noted that only Cyprus have a worse result, scoring two goals in seven meetings. Sagnol’s wards conceded quite a lot, as many as 13 goals. Again, only Cyprus are doing much worse – the islanders, who occupy the last place, conceded 25 goals.

After losing to La Roja (1:7) and then Norway (2:1), the Crusaders defeated Thailand (8:0) in a friendly and Cyprus (4:0) last month. In the last match Otar Kiteishvili opened the scoring with a shot from close range, while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Levan Shengelia and Georges Mikautadze sealed the win in the second half.

In the post-match interview Kvaratskhelia thanked the fans who came to the stadium and promised to do everything possible to justify their trust. After a long goal drought Khvicha has regained good form. In 15 games this season in SSC Napoli he scored three goals and gave the same number of goalscoring passes.

It is worth noting that the Georgians won their group in the UEFA Nations League without a single defeat in six matches. Willy Sagnol’s charges drew with Bulgaria (0:0). They defeated Gibraltar (4:0 and 2:1), Bulgarians again (5:2) and North Macedonia (3:0 and 2:0). Thus, the Reds got the right to play in the knockout matches for the Euro 2024. 

Otar Kiteishvili will miss the upcoming qualifiers because of a sustained injury

Now they just need to prepare well for them. The current generation of the Georgian national team is clearly capable of more than fourth place in the qualifying group. Although, to be fair, it should be noted that the team was clearly unlucky with the draw – it was unrealistic to compete with the Spaniards from the beginning, and besides them, the opponents were the Norwegians with Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard in their best form, as well as the unexpectedly progressing Scots. 

Despite a poor qualifying cycle, the Georgians remain a dangerous opponent on their home field. Over the past two years, they have lost only once at home in different competitions – although it was a resounding spanking at the hands of Spain (1:7). 

But in other matches the Georgian national team looked decent: a draw with Norway, victories over North Macedonia and Sweden. In addition, Georgians met the Scots twice on their own field within the framework of different selections and won both times.

As for injuries, the coaching staff will have to do without one of the leading midfielders Kiteishvili in the matches against Scotland and Spain. The Austrian SK Sturm Graz player scored against Cypriots in October, and after returning to the club played two good matches, but then got injured and is still recovering. 

He can be replaced in the starting lineup by Nika Kvekveskiri from Polish Lech Poznan. And in attack it is reasonable to expect a combination of Mikautadze and Zuriko Davitashvili. And they will also have to play without 18-year-old FC Basel 1893 midfielder Gabriel Sigua, who has not yet recovered from an injury. 

Scotland News & Current Form: 

Scotland’s national team has a very different situation, having already guaranteed themselves a place in the final round of Euro 2024. This is only the fourth time in history and the second time in a row since 1992 and 1996. The Scots will face Georgia and Norway in the two remaining rounds and must not falter in their fight for top spot in the group. 

The Tartan Army sit second in the qualification standings with the same number of points as leading Spain, but slightly worse extra points. Scotland have scored 12 goals and conceded 3 goals, while Spain have scored 19 goals and conceded the same 3 goals.

The Scots beat the Red Fury 2:0 in their opening game in March, followed by wins over Norway (1:2), Georgia (2:0) and Cyprus (3:0). With the victory over the outsider, the players extended their winning streak to five meetings, which actually became the key to early receipt of a trip to Germany.

But then Clarke’s team lost in a friendly to England (1:3) and then to Spain (2:0). And finally, last month the Blue and Whites failed to resist the team from France in a friendly (4:1). It is worth noting that the team’s coach Steve Clarke deserves special praise. He organized a beautiful football team for the national collective. 

The results are excellent, but there are a few important nuances. Firstly, the Scots won only their home matches with confidence. Away they lost to the Spaniards, not without luck defeated the Norwegians, scoring two goals in the very end, and also beat a clear outsider – Cypriots.

Andrew Robertson, key player of Scottish team, will miss the rest of the qualifying matches

It should also be noted that Scottish national team leader Scott McTominay is on the rise. The Manchester United FC midfielder scored six goals and one assist in the opening five rounds of qualifying for Euro 2024.

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McTominay is having the best season of his career, but it’s not helping his club much. The Red Devils are going through a tough time, they are one step away from elimination from the UEFA Champions League. It is likely that this will have a negative impact on the midfielder’s performances for the national team.

Also from the negative points it should be noted that the meeting will miss one of the leading players of the team Andrew Robertson. The Liverpool FC defender was injured and is out for a long period of time. It is reported that if he needs surgery, it may take 12 to 16 weeks to recover. 

Amidst the personnel losses in defense, 21-year-old Josh Doig, who plays in Serie A for Hellas Verona FC, could make his national team debut on Thursday, with Nathan Patterson and Greg Taylor taking up spots on the flanks. 

Georgia form guide: W-L-L-L-W-W

Scotland form guide: W-W-W-L-L-L

Georgia vs Scotland Head-To-Head Record:

• March 24, 2007: Scotland 2 – 1 Georgia (UEFA EURO);
• October 17, 2007: Georgia 2 – 0 Scotland (UEFA EURO);
• October 11, 2014: Scotland 1 – 0 Georgia (UEFA EURO);
• September 4, 2015: Georgia 1 – 0 Scotland (UEFA EURO);
• June 20, 2023: Scotland 2 – 0 Georgia (UEFA EURO).

Georgia vs Scotland Predicted XI:

Georgia’s possible starting lineup (5-3-2): Mamardashvili; Mamuchashvili, Lochoshvili, Kashia, Kvirkvelia, Azarovi; Kiteishvili, Kvevkveskiri; Chakvetadze; Mikautadze, Kvaratskhelia.

Scotland’s possible starting lineup (3-5-1-1): Clark; Hendry, McKenna, Cooper; Patterson, Gilmour, McTominay, Taylor; McGinn, Christie; Dykes.

Statistical preview of the match Georgia vs Scotland:

• Georgia’s First XI average age is 26.7 years, Scotland’s First XI average age is 27.5 years.
• In the FIFA ranking of national team, Georgian team occupies 76th position, while the collective from Scotland is on the 34th spot.
• Aleksandar Stavrev has been appointed as the center referee. The referee has already served two games this season, showing an average of 4 Yellow Cards and also whistles 23 fouls per game. 
• In the last 5 games Georgia conceded an average of 2.20 goals per game and scored an average of 2.80 goals per game.
• In the last 5 games, Scotland conceded an average of 1.80 goals per game and scored an average of 1.40 goals per game.
• In the last five games, Georgia possessed the ball for an average of 46% of the playing time, while Scotland had a 43.6% possession.
• In 4 of Georgia’s last 5 matches in this tournament at least 3 goals were scored.
• At least one team had failed to score in 11 of Georgia’s 13 previous home games in Euro qualifying.
• Before the defeat in the 7th round, Scotland had a 10-match unbeaten streak in Euro qualification (8 wins and 2 draws in regulation time).
• The hosts serve an average of 3.5 corners per game, while the visitors serve an average of 3.38. The average corner total in the matches with Georgia Georgia is 7.75, while in the games involving Scotland it is 6.13. 
• The hosts collect an average of 1.88 yellow cards per game, while the visitors – 2.5. 

What has been said before the match:

Willy Sagnol, coach of the Georgian team, about the tactical changes in his team’s game and the players:

“Two important matches are ahead of us, because these are the last matches  before the playoffs of the qualifying stage of the European Championship. The players must show me that they deserve to play in the national team, have the appropriate quality and can bring benefits to the team.”

“Don’t expect big tactical changes for the playoffs. We just need to improve what we are doing now. That’s what we need in the next two matches. We need to strengthen our defense, midfield, and attack. The result is one thing, but confidence, the character of the team is important. Therefore, we must present ourselves well in these national team matches.”

“Otar Kiteishvili has an Achilles tendon injury. At the moment, no one knows exactly how long it will take him to return to the field. With such an injury, it is better not to rush things. I hope Kiteishvili will be able to resume training in 2-3 weeks. I know that Sturm is under the care of qualified medical staff and will do whatever is necessary.”

“Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is a key player for us, who can create danger at the opponent’s goal. That’s why I think it’s more useful in the center. He scored many goals while playing in this position.All world-class players can play in any position and Khvicha is one of them.”

Gaffer of the Scottish national team Steve Clarke about the difficulty and importance of the upcoming game:

“I didn’t know it was my 50th game until about thirty seconds ago so those sorts of things aren’t at the forefront of my mind. We want to improve as a team. I’m always thinking about the next game.”

“At the moment I’m just thinking about the game tomorrow. We expect a really difficult game in Georgia and I’m just trying to prepare the team as best as I can so that they perform to the best of their ability. What’s past is past and there’s nothing we can do to affect that. All we can affect is the future and the next game.”

“It’s going to be a very difficult game for us because I think they’re a very good side. The one game that they lost recently was against Spain but that was a little bit of an anomaly from their recent fixtures because all their recent games have been very competitive and we expect another one tomorrow night. If we can go there and get a positive result then it’s only good for us.”

Georgia vs Scotland Prediction:

Only in one of the five previous matches between the national teams of Georgia and Scotland the teams exchanged goals. And it happened in the first meeting of the rivals, which took place in 2007 (2:1 win for the Scots). The next four games were draws and ended with a clean sheet victory for the home team. However, this match is unlikely to resemble the previous ones. Both teams can afford to play unconstrained in attack, as the situation in Group A suggests. The Scots are in second place with 5 points off third place and have a game in hand (GD +9). Georgians at home tend to go forward with high intensity, and now they have nothing to lose, as the White and Reds have no chance to qualify for the tournament. On the other hand, the lads of Steve Clarke would require a win to make the last match of the qualification cycle a mere formality. On the pitch we will see a fight and a lot of chances, which will result in mutual goalscoring.

Parimatch News staff prediction:

We say: Both teams will score – Yes.