Having already made astounding progress as a footballing nation in recent years, Willy Sagnol’s men had the opportunity to hand Spain their first-ever home WCQ loss.
However, with La Roja scoring nine goals in their previous two games, that would always be easier dreamed than done – and it looked like the hosts had won an early penalty, only for VAR to determine there was no Giorgi Kochorashvili foul inside the box on Ferran Torres.
This only prolonged the inevitable though, as Yeremy Pino fired the hosts in front on 24 minutes from point-blank range, after Robin Le Normand expertly played Pedri’s sumptuous lofted ball into the Crystal Palace forward’s path.
After surviving a Spain penalty appeal in the opening exchanges, the visitors could have few complaints after Giorgi Mamardashvili hauled down Torres just shy of the half-hour mark. One former Valencia star faced the other, and Mamardashvili redeemed himself with a fine save, preventing the Barcelona player from reaching 22 senior international goals and equalling the totals of Alfredo Di Stefano and Sergio Ramos respectively.
However, that didn’t stop the Spain passing machine from continuing to purr nicely, and Mikel Merino spurned two golden opportunities to double their advantage before half-time.
Mamardashvili continued to be a formidable last line of defence for the Crusaders after the break, denying Mikel Oyarzabal after some sublime link-up play with Pedro Porro.
Torres then rounded the Liverpool shot-stopper, but could only hit the side netting from a tight angle.
It seemed to be only a matter of time before Spain struck again, as Porro’s left-footed effort rattled the post and Otar Kiteishvili made an outstanding challenge to deny Oyarzabal on the follow-up.
Oyarzabal would indeed not be denied his goal; in what was his last action of the match, he rifled home an unstoppable free-kick past Mamardashvili to effectively end the contest in the 64th minute, ahead of being replaced by Borja Iglesias.
Sagnol’s side had to wait until the 78th minute for their first shot of the entire contest when Giorgi Gocholeishvili tried his luck with an audacious long-range effort, perfectly summing up the ease with which Spain were sauntering to victory.
Mamardashvili kept the scoreline respectable from Georgia’s perspective, making a fine stop to keep out another Torres effort, but couldn’t prevent Luis de la Fuente’s team from maintaining their 100% record in 2026 WCQ and claiming a fifth successive H2H victory.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Pedro Porro (Spain)