Descendants of Georgian refugees who grew up in France have become the biggest surprise in the European Cup scorers' charts

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2024-06-30 20:54Football newspaper official account

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01 Georgian center Mikotadze performed well in the group stage of the European Championship, contributing 3 goals and 1 assist, leading the scorer list.

02 Mikautadze was born in Lyon, France, to war refugees who fled to France in the 1990s from the war-torn Caucasus mountain country.

03Despite growing up in France, Mikautadze insisted on speaking Georgian with his parents, hoping to improve his native language skills.

04 Mikotadze's goal celebration was to fold his hands in front of his eyes, mimicking the Georgian style of football.

05Due to the increased attention of Georgian football, Mikotadze's goals and assists have become a hot topic.

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Before the start of the European Cup, the top scorers on the Golden Boot list were the famous Mbappe, Kane, Ronaldo, Lukaku, Havertz, Bellingham, Morata and other favorite teams. But in the group stage, it was the unknown Georgian center Mikotadze who made a splash in the end.

Even in Georgia, Kvaratskhelia and Mamardashvili, who are much more valuable than Mykotaze, are more popular, but the 24-year-old Metz goalscorer, who contributed three goals and one assist, was the biggest contributor to the team's goal in the group stage, becoming the biggest contributor to the European Championship newcomers' qualification to the knockout rounds. Before Musiala opened the scoring for Germany last night, he led the European Championship scorers in the group stage Golden Boot alone.

In the 1/8 finals, in front of Mikautadze and his teammates, there was another giant Goliath, the only Spanish team to win all the group stages of this European Cup. This time, can this descendant of Georgian immigrants who grew up in Lyon, France, still be able to play the Georgian shepherd boy David?

Kylian Mbappe broke the bridge of his nose, Kane was left without support, Cristiano Ronaldo opted to cross to a team-mate when facing the goalkeeper, and all three of Romelu Lukaku's goals were disallowed by VAR...... Fans who were expecting a top scorer from the group stage of this European Championship were utterly disappointed. But the disappointment is not without surprises. Mikautadze, the center of Georgia, a new team in the European Cup, scored 3 goals and 1 assist in 3 games in the group stage, surpassing a group of stars worth 100 million yuan and leading the scorer list.

Before the European Championship, even Georgia's own Mikotaze did not have much fame. Because he was born in Lyon, France, to war refugees who fled to France in the 1990s from the Caucasus mountain country after the civil war. Despite growing up in France, Mikautadze's parents did not sever their son's spiritual ties with Georgia. Every summer, the family returns to Georgia to visit relatives and communicates in Georgian at their home in France.

Mikautaze, who lives on the outskirts of Lyon, entered the academy of Ligue 1 giants Lyon without any suspense. But he was forced to leave at the age of 15, and the reason given by the Lyon echelon director was "small and not strong enough".

It wasn't until he was 17 years old that Mikautaze was offered the opportunity to join Metz FC, but it wasn't until two years later that he joined Metz B to play in Ligue 3. The chance that really made Mikotaze stand out was when he was loaned out to Belgian club Serland at the age of 20. He led the team to promotion to the first division in his first season, scoring 15 goals in nine games, including two hat-tricks.

In the 2022/23 season, Mikotaze returned to Metz, scoring 31 goals in 37 Ligue 2 games, helping his parent club to promotion again, and also winning two Ligue 2 Golden Boot and season MVP awards. Such a performance led Dutch giants Ajax to spend 16 million euros on Mikautaze, but he did not get enough time. He was then loaned back to Metz and has 14 goals and four assists in 22 Ligue 1 games, including eight goals in the last seven Ligue 1 games. However, Mikautaze scored in the relegation play-offs, but Metz failed to avoid relegation and returned to Ligue 2.

Mikotaze's ability to shoot left and right stems from his father's deliberate intensification of his weak left foot as a child. He is good at dribbling, accelerating and shooting, and is a natural number nine. He can both grab points in front of the goal and score from a distance, and his left and right foot shooting skills are balanced, and the only drawback is the lack of header ability. Although a verbal agreement had been reached with Mikautadze before the European Championship in Monaco, Wolves, Burnley, Lyon, Milan and Juventus were all interested in him. Mikotaze's performance in the group stage of the European Championship has attracted many suitors, and it is completely reasonable.

Mikotaze is the eldest son in the family, and he also has a younger brother and a sister. His father, Nadia, is an amateur player and has been training Mikautadze since he was 3 years old. His mother, Rasha, has always encouraged her son, believing that he will inevitably become a football star. Nadia recalls that as a child, Mikotaze only had football in his eyes and didn't know how many times he had kicked through the door. Mikautadze is extremely serious about training and competition, rain or shine, even when he has a fever. Even if his football career was not smooth, and he was "abandoned" by Lyon and Metz successively, Mikautaze still firmly believed that he would succeed, and finally showed his edge in the second division, and then really shined in Metz.

Georgian football tradition has always admired individual skill, and as early as the Soviet era, it was called the "Brazilians of the Soviet Union". Mikotadze also gave himself the Brazilian nickname "Georginho", a perfect combination of Georgian and Brazilian style. Mikotadze's goal celebration was to fold his hands in front of his eyes, like looking through a telescope, perhaps looking into Brazil – Georgia, the most revered country of football, as evidenced by Mikautadze's nickname.

Although growing up in France, he never had the idea of playing for the French team: "My roots are in Georgia, my family is there, and they are all happy to see me play in a Georgian jersey. ”

Because of his residence in France, Mikautadze is not fluent in Georgian. But he has been insisting on speaking Georgian at home with his father Nadia and mother Lhasa, hoping to improve his mother tongue skills as soon as possible. In the match against Portugal, Mikautadze's family was in the stands, and his sister Anna watched Georgia live for the first time when she saw her brother score the winning goal.

Before signing a professional contract with Metz in 2019, Mikautaze was called up by the French Football Federation to make a name for the French Under-19 national team. But Mikotadze did not respond immediately, and in the autumn of 2020 he scored 14 goals in the first seven games of the second division, which was widely reported by the Georgian media, and the Georgian Football Federation contacted Mikotadze. Sagnol, who took office in February 2021, is well aware of the importance of being a prolific goalscorer in the Lyon academy for the Georgian national team. He personally called Mikautadze to lobby him faster than the French Football Federation, and Georgia got their own real European Championship goalscorer.

Since the 1980 European Championship was expanded to implement the group stage, the previous eight players have scored in three group stage games. Including Platini, Shearer, Stoichkov, Milosevic, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Baroshe, Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, Mikotadze is the latest one. Never before has Georgian football caught the attention of the whole of Europe as much as it has now, and Mikotadze's goals and assists have been instrumental in that.

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