Spain eased their way to a calm, dominant 4–0 win over Georgia in their World Cup qualifier in Tbilisi. It felt like one of those evenings where almost everything drifted in Spain’s direction, right from the very early moments of the match. The victory makes it 30 games for the Spanish side without defeat; they celebrated this record on the nation’s official X account.
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Barely ten minutes were played when Giorgi Gocholeishvili ended up unlucky, with the ball brushing his arm inside the area. The referee didn’t hesitate at all and went straight to the spot. Mikel Oyarzabal, on his 50th cap, just rolled the penalty the other way from Giorgi Mamardashvili, just like he did in the team’s 4-0 victory over Bulgaria.
Georgia tried to bite back, mostly through Khvicha Kvaratskhelia carrying the ball forward in bursts, but nothing really stuck long enough to bother Spain’s defenders.
Spain kept stepping forward. Álex Baena came close to doubling the lead when his low drive clipped the post. But the second goal was coming anyway. Around the middle of the half, Martin Zubimendi, who recently praised the team’s unity as reported by Softfootball, reacted fastest in a messy box, poking the ball in to make it 2–0. By then, you could feel Georgia was kind of climbing uphill already.
The hosts didn’t register a proper shot on target until after the half-hour mark, even with Zuriko Davitashvili buzzing around and trying to spark something. But every time Georgia hinted at danger, Spain snapped back into their shape, like muscle memory. In the final third, Spain just looked sharper.
Baena found Oyarzabal, who whipped a teasing ball across the goalmouth for Ferran Torres to tap in from almost under the bar. Spain could’ve gone into halftime with a fourth, but Mamardashvili pulled off a brilliant stop to deny Oyarzabal in added time.
Georgia started the second half brighter, with debutant Iuri Tabatadze producing a decent header on goal.
Anzor Mekvabishvili also tried his luck from a distance. Still, even with a bit more possession, they never really shook Spain out of their comfort. And when Oyarzabal rose to meet a looping cross, nodding it back toward the far post, it bounced off the woodwork and dropped in for Spain’s fourth.
That was pretty much the game done. Spain have now taken five qualifiers in a row. For Georgia, it’s another hard one: nine losses to Spain in ten tries, and 24 conceded in the last five. Just another reminder of the gap between these teams right now.
