Euro 2024: Turkey vs Georgia tips and predictions - Physical underdogs battle to surprise result
- George Dempsey
- 17 June 2024
Turkey have looked woeful in the build-up to Euro 2024 so we’re willing to take a punt on Georgia springing a surprise in Dortmund on Tuesday (1700 BST).
Turkey edged out Croatia in a competitive group to qualify for Euro 2024 but they’re in disastrous form ahead of their opening Group F fixture with Georgia.
Vincenzo Montella’s side are clear favourites to claim maximum points in Dortmund on Tuesday afternoon, but only a fool would write off Georgia.
We backed the minnows as one of our outside bets and suggested they could sneak through to the round of 16 in Germany.
In a group featuring Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, the obvious route to doing so would be to beat Turkey and claim a point against the Czech Republic, which feels possible.
Although they were out of their depth against Spain and Norway in qualifying, the Georgians showed their fighting spirit by seeing off Greece in a historic play-off match.
Planet Sport Bet Special: Bet £10 on Turkey vs Georgia and if both teams score in the first half, get a £5 free bet!
Willy Sagnol’s side survived 75 minutes with 10 men in a 0-0 draw before seeing off the Euro 2004 winners in a penalty shootout.
Spain are the only side to taste victory against Georgia in seven matches. During that run, they’ve held Greece, and Scotland and beaten Montenegro 3-1.
Even though they lost 3-1 to the Spaniards in Valladolid, the visitors were able to reduce the amount of quality chances they produced and kept it close until the 72nd minute.
Despite a positive qualifying campaign ahead of Euro 2020, Turkey were an embarrassment. They looked out of their depth as they were comfortably beaten by Italy, Switzerland and Wales
Backing Turkey at such short odds looks like a bad idea, so we’ll take a chance of Georgia springing a surprise and keeping things tight in a physical encounter.
Team news
The majority of Turkey’s squad plays in the Super Lig but midfield pairing Hakan Calhanoglou and Salih Ozcan, who play for Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund, offer significant experience.
Baris Yilmaz, not to be confused with his 38-year-old namesake from yesteryear, Burak, will start up front.
Real Madrid youngster Arda Guler is the one to watch for Turkey.
Georgia are an unknown quantity to most but there are a couple of standout performers who will be tasked with producing some history-making moments.
Watford winger Giorgi Chakvetadze and Metz forward Georges Mikautadze will be chief support to Napoli sensation Khvicha Kvaratskheila, AKA Kvaradona.
Key stats
- Turkey are winless in five matches since qualifying for Euro 2024
- Turkey were beaten 6-1 by Austria and 2-1 by Poland in warm-up matches
- Georgia have lost once in their last seven matches across all competitions
- Georgia survived 75 minutes with 10 men in a 0-0 draw against Greece
- The minnows stepped up their preparations with a 3-1 win in Montenegro
Suggested bets
