"To be honest, I wasn't interested in football. I didn't watch it at all before. And I know a lot of people who didn't watch and now watch every match."
On one of the surrounding walls of Tbilisi's Dinamo Stadium, at 2A Tsereteli Street, the image of a young man kissing the national emblem attracts the attention. He's one of the kids who grew up in the local academy but now wears a Napoli shirt.
Somewhere at the bottom of this mural can be seen the signature of the author: Elina 2022.
"When I was painting, a lot of people stopped and looked at me. They took pictures and many thanked me. Children would pass on the street and look excitedly at what I was doing and say to their parents 'Look! Look! They're painting Kvara!"
Elina Miminoshvili is a street artist living in the Georgian capital, and Kvara is the footballer who took the whole of Europe by storm after his spectacular performances at Napoli this season.
"Kvara is an inspiration to us all. The way he has managed to progress in sport motivates us all, no matter what field we work in," Elina tells Flashscore.
Encouraged by the success of the painting on the fences of the Dinamo stadium, she went on to immortalise one of the most in-form footballers of the moment.
On the fence of a house in Tbilisi, she chose to paint two versions of the Georgian footballer. One of them shows him doing his sleeping celebration he uses sporadically after scoring.
On the second, he holds the Georgian national emblem - depicted on a shinpad - showing how important his connection to his homeland is.
"This player is the pride of the whole country. I am happy when I see even very young children talking about him, because he is an example for future generations," says Elina, who admits that before Kvaratskhelia football was not interesting to her.
"To be honest, I wasn't interested in football. I didn't watch it at all before. And I know a lot of people who didn't watch and now watch every match.
"I don't know a family in the neighbourhood that doesn't watch his games. People meet at someone's house, go to restaurants, clubs and cafes to watch Kvara play.
"When he has a match and I don't have time to watch, I immediately find out if he scores. 'Kvara goool' can be heard from every house, every cafe, every street corner."
Tbilisi has become a de-facto Naples, given the amount of people watching the Georgian winger on matchdays, a place that lives and breathes their hero's every goal.
"When it's the game, it's madness in the city," Giorgi Romanadze, a representative of a local betting company, also tells Flashscore.
"The city transforms on matchdays and it has become a habit for people to gather to watch Napoli play."
"The interest is huge all over the country. The excitement that Khvicha has created in Georgia around football, around Napoli and around him, is unheard of before.
"Napoli has become one of the most popular and beloved clubs in Georgia, thanks to Kvara. People try to predict how many goals he will score or how many assists he will give."
He adds: "Information about his matches immediately goes viral on social media. Even the smallest details have become of interest to fans. Everyone wants to be informed before and after the match."
The excitement is so great that the bookmaker Giorgi represents has decided to make a documentary about Kvaratskhelia's first season in Naples, with one of the best-known Georgian actors, Giorgi Bakhutashvili, as presenter.
Romanadze explains: "People want to know what is happening outside the stadium, how the team is preparing, how Kvicha adapted to the new city and the new club. What it's like for him to play for Napoli and what the locals think of him.
"This film will give people the opportunity to find out more about the most interesting topics."
Rough Diamond
Kvarastkhelia was born in Tbilisi in February 2001. At eight years old he was already doing well with the ball and it didn't take him long to progress through the different age groups of Dinamo Tbilisi's academy.
At 16 he made his senior debut, but only got to play four games for his parent club before signing for FC Rustavi in March 2018.
Founded in 2015, the team was promoted to the top league after two years. But after a good first season things started to go wrong in early 2019 and Kvaratskhelia was loaned to Lokomotiv Moscow.
He made just seven appearances, only one of which was from a starting position, but on parting ways with the Moscow capital club, Khvicha's father, former Azerbaijani international Badri Kvaratskhelia (57), was to say that Lokomotiv's coach "cried" when he realised he couldn't stop his son at the club.
FC Rustavi immediately transferred him to Rubin Kazan for €600,000, and the young Georgian began to develop the qualities that would eventually put him on the radar of some of Europe's top teams.
In his debut season he was named 'Player of the Month' four times in the Russian top flight, and the French daily sports newspaper L'Equipe included him on its list of the best players born in the 21st Century.
Back Home
Shortly after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, FIFA decided that foreign footballers and coaches working in Russian leagues could suspend their contracts, which Kvaratskhelia did.
The plan was that when things settled down he would return to Kazan. He did not, however, anticipate the anger of Georgian supporters, who were disappointed that the footballer did not want to break away from Russia for good.
Georgia has its own traumas when it comes to its powerful northern neighbour, who sent its tanks across the border in early August 2008.
It was only when his family started receiving threats that Khvicha decided it was time to part ways with Rubin Kazan for good, and continued his season in his homeland with Dinamo Batumi.
No doubt the step he took was a backward one, but his good seasons in Russia and eight goals scored in just 11 games for Batumi had already begun to grab the attention of scouts at big European clubs.
Kvara... who?
Napoli finished the 2021/22 season in third place in Serie A, qualifying for the Champions League. It was progress, having missed out on a place in Europe's most important inter-club competition in the last round a year earlier.
Supporters' dreams of taking a step forward, perhaps even towards the club's first title in 33 years, were, if not shattered, at least put on hold by the news that four of the team's most important players would be leaving.
The sale of Kalidou Koulibaly (31) and Fabian Ruiz (26) brought €60million into the club's coffers, but two of Napoli's best-loved players, captain Lorenzo Insigne (31) and the team's all-time top scorer Dries Mertens (35), were to leave for free at the end of their contracts.
In their place South Korean defender Kim Min-Jae (25) was brought in for about €19.5million and strikers Giovanni Simeone (27) and Giacomo Raspadori (22) for about €45 million. Midfielder Tanguy Ndombele (25) came in on loan from Tottenham.
The cheapest transfer for Napoli was that of Kvaratskhelia, for whom owner Aurelio De Laurentiis shelled out just €10million.
"Kvara... who?", Neapolitan supporters must have wondered. With such a transfer campaign it seemed that the team was aiming for a long-term rebuild rather than the long-awaited title under Vesuvius.
A dream come true
On August 15, Napoli started the season away to Verona and all of their supporters are curious to see the new signings at work.
Almost 30 minutes in, however, Verona opened the scoring following a corner from which the Neapolitan defence looked confused. Who could have blamed the supporters who were already "seeing" the whole season unfold before their eyes?
Seven minutes later, Hirving Lozano (27), the second most expensive transfer in Napoli's history, crossed from the right flank and Kvaratskhelia headed into the net to restore parity.
A debut goal is every player's dream, and Kvara had just achieved it. He then delivered the decisive pass for the winning goal.
In the big world of football, however, a good match doesn't mean much. It can be a fluke. But it can also be the beginning of a fairytale. For Kvara it was the latter.
The brace against Monza at home, followed by the goal in the away win over Lazio, made supporters wonder if their team had done the business of the year. The answer came in the first Champions League match, when Napoli met Liverpool.
Even without scoring, Kvaratskhelia was the player who caught the eye. His attacking runs down the left flank made Trent Alexander-Arnold look like he was making his debut in Europe's top club competition.
After the referee blew the final whistle and the scoreboard showed an unlikely 4-1 scoreline against last year's finalists, there was no doubt - Napoli had discovered a diamond.
"My biggest dream is to win the Champions League with Real Madrid. I've been a Real fan since I was a child, and I used to watch the games with my brothers," Kvaratskhelia confessed in an interview before taking the big step to Serie A.
After arriving in Italy he reevaluated and said that his dream had come true because he had already joined a major club in Europe. And the fans started dreaming too.
From Kvara to 'Kvaradona'
Italy is the land of Michelangelo, but also of 'Pinturicchio' Alessandro Del Piero. It gave the world the author of the Divine Comedy, but also 'Divine Codino' Roberto Baggio. Supporters love the great players.
They even worship them and give them nicknames expressing their respect and affection.
Gabriel Batistuta remained the 'Re Leone' (Lion King) even after his transfer from Fiorentina to AS Roma, for who 'Capitano' will always be Francesco Totti.
The nickname is the fans' way of signalling that a player has something special, something deserving of a nickname.
"Kvaravaggio" the Neapolitans called the young Georgian who seemed to dribble like a great painter wields a paintbrush. But the ultimate compliment to a Napoli player is to be likened to Maradona.
He is linked with Napoli's only two league titles, won in 1987 and 1990.
'Kvaradona' is now the symbol of an entire city's hopes of regaining its former glory.
"I'm nowhere near Maradona, but I will give everything to become a great player for this club," Khvicha said modestly.
Statistics up to the end of October showed he had created 5.6 shooting opportunities every 90 minutes. On average, one of those chances came from a dribble, which puts him top of the world in this category this season.
His more than eight dribble attempts per game make him difficult for opponents to mark and allow him to get into key areas of the pitch more easily. And the fact that he can rely on both feet is an advantage that often allows him to turn tricky situations into scoring opportunities.
"Kvara has this extraordinary ability to play the ball with both feet. His versatility makes him stratospheric," Napoli manager Luciano Spaletti (63) said after another win for his team (3-1 vs Torino) and another Kvaratskhelia goal.
The hope of a nation
In 2020, Georgia came close to qualifying for its first major final tournament - EURO 2020. The newly established League of Nations gave even the lowest-ranked teams a chance to dream of the European Championship.
The Georgians won their League D group and after another win over Belarus in the play-off semi-finals, they were to compete for their place at the EURO against North Macedonia.
Kvaratskhelia tested positive at Covid-19 just before this vital match, and home advantage was not so important after it was decided that the match would be played behind closed doors due to the pandemic.
Georgia lost 1-0 and saw their dream shattered.
"Now the hopes are even higher," says Romanadze. "First of all because Khvicha is a more complete and experienced player, playing for a top club.
"It's important that the rest of the national team players are also going through a good period and the atmosphere in the squad is great.
"The national team has been the best in the whole League C of the Nations League. That means we will host the semi-final and have a huge chance to reach EURO2024.
"The national team is on an 11-match unbeaten run and is in great form. Of course, the leader of this team is Kvaratskhelia, in whom Georgians put all their hopes," Romanidze adds.
"Do what you want with your heart" is the message written between two pictures of Khvicha painted by artist Elina Miminoshvili on a fence in the capital Tbilisi.
What message she would like to send to the footballer if the opportunity arose?
"Don't stop! You are our inspiration. By what you do, you manage to motivate many people. So don't stop!"
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This article has been translated from Romanian - you can read the original article here.
