Georgia record first win under Willy Sagnol in 2-1 football friendly against Romania

The Georgian national football team has recorded its first win under manager Willy Sagnol after defeating Romania with the score 2-1 in an away friendly game on Thursday.

Featuring a debut foal from forward Giorgi Mikautadze and first games in the national squad for midfielder Irakli Azarovi and goalkeeper Lazare Kupatadze, the match followed one draw and two losses in the previous three games, the first fixtures for Sagnol - the former Bayern Munich and France defender - as manager.

Mikautadze opened the score after 61 minutes, following a red card for Romania's Florin Tănase late in the first half. The eventful game saw another red, this time for defender Solomon Kverkvelia on 64th minute, when the hosts missed a resulting penalty and the score remained in favour of the Georgian team.

See Giorgi Mikautadze's opener against Romania below:

Eight minutes later midfielder Giorgi Aburjania increased the visitors' lead with his own strike, before the Romanians - in possession for most of the rest of the match - also managed to find the net in the 78th minute through Andrei Ivan.

In hist post-match comments Sagnol was critical of his players' performance, lamenting a lack of concentration and the overall quality of play in the first 45 minutes of the fixture. The French manager stressed his belief in the potential for the squad to perform better.

See Giorgi Aburjania's goal that gave Georgia a 2-0 lead in the game:

Goalscorer Mikautadze was predictably happy with the match, telling reporters he was "very happy" with the goal and the first win under the recently appointed manager, while Aburjania, the author of the other goal, said the result would bring confidence to the team for upcoming games.

Georgia is set to play another friendly match, facing the Netherlands this Sunday in Enschede, in what will be the first game in history between the teams. The national team is fourth in their 2022 World Cup qualifying round group with a single point, ahead of Kosovo and one point behind Greece. Second-placed Sweden have six points, while Spain top the group on seven.