Winners of the competition back in 1988, a front-footed French side dominated the attacking play from the outset. Wilson Odobert surely would have opened the scoring if he hadn’t got the ball stuck under his feet in the six-yard area, while Felix Lemarechal fired straight into the arms of Luka Kharatishvili.
The one-way traffic towards Kharatishvili’s goal continued as the contest progressed past the quarter-hour mark, with Mathys Tel firing in a free-kick from just outside the area that the Georgian goalkeeper did well to palm away from any impending danger.
That all changed in the favour of the French in the 35th minute. After nearly being kicked in the head by Saba Sazonov’s high boot, Tel picked himself off the ground – showing no ill effects of the clumsy challenge – to confidently convert the resulting penalty into the corner to give the visitors the lead at half-time.
Georgia manager Ramaz Svanadze’s response to seeing his side fail to have a shot on target was to introduce Abuashvili and Otar Mamageishvili into the game. And, it was nearly Abuashvili who brought Georgia level with an ambitious effort from a distance that required a full-stretch Guillaume Restes to tip the ball over the crossbar.
Kharatishvili was called on again for Georgia not long after, as he prevented Odobert’s rocket from making it game, set and match to France. If it wasn’t for Kharatishvili, the score could have been closer to a cricket score as substitute Matthis Abline saw his goalbound effort expertly redirected over the bar.
As said over and over again in football, if you don’t put your chances away you will be punished, and that’s exactly what Abuashvili did to France in the 76th minute, as he brought Georgia level with a sublime strike that nestled nicely into the corner of the net.
Sensationally, Georgia turned the match on its head eight minutes later as an unmarked Sazonov headed home an unstoppable header from the back post.
However, the Georgian celebrations were too premature as France appeared to have won the game within a devastating three-minute spell.
First, Lepenant fired a well-worked team move past Kharatishvili to bring the visitors’ level, but Thierno Barry’s 92-minute strike was ruled out – following an extensive VAR review – for offside.
An end-to-end night of entertainment in Zilina wasn’t finished there as Barry converted Castello Lukeba’s headed-pass from close range in the 102nd minute to help France leapfrog Georgia into second place in Group C ahead of their match against bottom-of-the-pile Poland on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Georgia now need to beat leaders Portugal to stand any chance of progressing.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Luka Kharatishvili (Georgia)
