So, this was the night Georgia advanced to the last 16 in their first appearance at major tournament courtesy of a magnificent victory over Portugal and one that will live long in the memory of the thousands of supporters who were here to witness history. There will be a rich tapestry of lasting images from this win but the sight of Georgia’s substitutes’ bench emptying, reserve goalkeepers Giorgi Loria and Luka Gugeshashvili, too, streaming to mob Georges Mikautadze after his penalty earned a two-goal buffer is hard to top. Guram Kashia looked to the skies, kissed his wrist and beat his chest. Willy Sagnol, wearing a plain-white T-shirt, merely clenched his left fist. It is fair to say the celebrations back home and among those who made the trip will be rather more unrestrained. Where to start with arguably the greatest underdog story at a European Championship since Wales went deep into the tournament at Euro 2016 or Iceland knocked out England the same summer. Georgia will play Spain in the last 16. They couldn’t, could they? It would be easy to linger on the petulance of Cristiano Ronaldo, who booted a water bottle down the touchline in anger after being withdrawn midway through the second half. But then that would be to ignore the endearing brilliance of this Georgia team; the dancing feet of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the brute strength of Kashia, a warrior and a leader. Kvaratskhelia had suggested the likelihood of a Georgia victory could be as little as 1%. On the basis of the 68-place gulf between them in the Fifa rankings alone, it felt a big ask. It is why manager Willy Sagnol struggled to paint it as anything but David v Goliath. Georgia had to win to avoid elimination while Portugal came into the game with a place in the last 16 already boxed off. Roberto Martínez changed nine of his 10 outfield players, Ronaldo the only survivor from their impressive win over Turkey. Diogo Costa remained in goal and with 92 seconds on the clock, to the amazement of almost everybody in this stadium, it was the Portugal goalkeeper who was fishing the ball out of his net. At the end of the first half Portugal had recorded twice as many touches and 11 shots compared to their opponents’ three. But there was only one that mattered at the interval, Kvaratskhelia drilling the ball across Costa and into the far corner to register his first goal at this tournament. It is a goal that will be replayed for years to come in Tbilisi but one Portugal’s right-back António Silva will not want to see in a hurry. Silva played a careless backward pass towards halfway and the moment Mikautadze, Georgia’s goalscorer in both of their previous matches here, seized possession, probably the first time they had done so in the opposition half, he ran towards a wall of noise from the Georgia supporters staring back at him. Mikautadze spied Kvaratskhelia to his left and played the perfect pass, allowing his teammate to do the rest. The other point Kvaratskhelia made on the eve of the game was that while they would respect Portugal they would not be fussed by the names on the back of their shirts. Sagnol approved Kvaratskhelia’s messaging. “He said it perfectly,” said Sagnol sitting beside the Napoli forward and the undoubted star of Georgia. That is only true to a certain extent, Kvaratskhelia admitting he planned to swap shirts with his childhood hero Ronaldo, but a brave and disciplined Georgia were intent on upsetting Portugal. Guram Kashia nicked the ball from Ronaldo and soon afterwards Georgia dispossessed João Félix before playing their own neat triangles. Any time the ball was within a five-metre radius of Kvaratskhelia the noise was deafening from the Georgia supporters. Ronaldo was booked for dissent after airing his anger at the Swiss referee, Sandro Schäfer, for failing to penalise the Georgia defender Luka Lochoshvili for getting touch-tight. Ronaldo was riled, shaking his head at every decision against his team. He fumed as Pedro Neto was booked for diving just before half-time and as he headed down the tunnel he raged at the fourth official, Mykola Balakin. It had been a deeply frustrating half for Ronaldo, who saw a shot superbly blocked by Giorgi Gvelesiani. Georgia celebrated every tackle wildly. Kashia and the goalkeeper Giorgi Marmardashvili high-fived Gvelesiani. Martínez appeared to send his players out a few minutes early for the second half, Rúben Neves introduced in place of João Palhinha. Neves’s first notable contribution was to earn a booking for tugging at a red shirt and if anything Portugal grew more irritated. Ronaldo was incredulous when Lasha Dvali made a desperate block. Georgia probably didn’t envisage the sight of Ronaldo playing ball boy in a bid to restart the action and fashion an equaliser. A few minutes later it was not one goal Portugal needed to draw parity but two. Diogo Dalot forced a phenomenal left-handed save but then the referee pressed pause as the VAR reviewed Lochoshvili’s fall inside the box at the start of the phase of play. The referee headed to the pitchside VAR monitor and then pointed to the penalty spot, confirming Silva, who was later withdrawn alongside Ronaldo, swiped at the midfielder. Mikautadze sidefooted his spot-kick into the corner and while Costa went the right way he nor Portugal were a match for Georgia on the night.