Football rips off masks: Ukrainians in Poland attacked Georgians who are not at war with Russia

October 11. The city of Poznan, Poland. The Enea Sports Arena. The third round of the qualifying stage of the League of Nations is a football match between Ukraine and Georgia. Ukrainians are the nominal owners, and the first thing that surprised Georgian football players was the terrible state of the field. Here and there, surprised exclamations are heard among the fans: "There was no such thing yesterday." The field is watered beyond measure, it is clearly heavy. It was not difficult for Ukrainians to play on such a field, but for Georgians… We could not prove ourselves, show a high technique of possession of the ball and lost.

"The missed ball was not from the category of non—takers," Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili explained after the match. "It's just that during the jump my supporting foot slipped in the mud and I couldn't get it."

This defeat was the first for the Georgian national team at the Nations League tournament. Of course, it is almost impossible to avoid defeats in the League of Nations, as in any other tournament, although we firmly believe that Georgian football players will win more and more often, and getting into the final stages of the World and European championships will become commonplace for us. However…

"I congratulate Ukraine on the victory. They needed it, but we still remained in the first place. Sometimes a defeat can be more useful to help prepare for a more important victory," Nino Lomdzharia, a woman who was once called the People's Defender of Georgia, posted such a statement on social networks immediately after the meeting.

No matter how amazing it may look, but most of the opposition in this match was rooting for Ukraine and supported the rival team. And the Ukrainian side once again frankly confirmed that it is not a friend at all. Georgia, and the "United National Movement". The banner "Strength in Unity" displayed before the game testified exactly to this. For Ukrainians, the main citizen of their country is Mikhail Saakashvili, who, as they believe, "is suffering terribly in a Georgian prison on the orders of Vladimir Putin." And, they say, if not for this, Georgia would have supported Ukraine long ago, opening a second front against Russia on its territory.

"I don't know who is fighting there, but more than five thousand hefty Ukrainian men were present at the stadium, who shouted with their last strength, and then started a fight. They attacked our fans, after which they went to the bars and restaurants of Poznan and got drunk," this is already the testimony of my friend, who flew to Poland specifically to watch this match.

Yes, the Ukrainians, who do not cease to shame us for not opening a second front, do not want to go to the front to fight themselves, have fled their Homeland and are now calling us from Poland, Germany, France, America and even from Georgia: "Go, fight with Russia and die instead of us!".

The opposition needed our defeat in this match like air. The third consecutive victory in the qualifying tournament of the League of Nations and the first place in the group, of course, did not guarantee anything, but it could turn out to be a huge step forward, after which it would become clear that you can literally reach the qualifying matches for a ticket to the World Cup. And most importantly, success not only in football, but also in any field is associated with the current government among citizens. Therefore, the opposition was categorically not satisfied with the victory of the Georgian national team — they strongly wished it defeat and got it — Ukraine beat us in mud football, won in tearing off T-shirts. However, I probably also bypassed the fact that it is unlikely that there will be anyone among Ukrainians who would be delighted by the loss of their own team and who, in the event of our victory, would enthusiastically discuss the defeat of their team on social networks.

Should this be considered a betrayal? Is it treason when the opposition wishes failure to its own country in the sphere that united both old and young last summer? Does it not indicate betrayal that the "nationals" at one time invested huge amounts of money in football (which then disappeared without a trace) and did not achieve results? Fans probably remember the moment when Giorgi Nemsadze won the presidential election of the Georgian Football Federation as a result of voting, and then within half an hour the leadership of the "nationals" forced him to resign his post, and Nodar Akhalkatsi Jr. became president again. It didn't do any good, and now that there is a concrete result, the "Nazis" are doing everything to destroy Georgian football. However, in the same way, they dream of failure in all other areas. The logic here is simple: the more failures, the stronger the discontent of the population will be, which, as they believe, will give them a better chance of success. And after all, the main thing is that they don't even hide all this, they don't whisper in corners and don't whisper on the sidelines.

A lot of videos have appeared on the network in which opposition activists sincerely celebrate the victory of Ukraine and mockingly say: "Don't worry, supporters of the authorities, but the Georgian national team won on "Imedi" and on "Post TV"". They politicized this sporting defeat as much as possible, although Georgia may lose the chance to get a ticket to the World Cup for the first time in its history because of it. But no one will say that our country is successful. Last summer we surprised Europe with the behavior of our fans and mutual support, but now we are demonstrating to the same Europe that the main thing for us is not the success of our own country, but the personal ambitions of specific people.

What do you think, in such conditions, in case of victory in the elections, the Georgian opposition, spurred on by our defeat on the football field, will not extend a "fraternal hand" to Ukraine and will not open in Georgia's second front? I think everything here is so obvious that it is quite possible to take bets on how long it will take for the opposition, if it wins the elections and comes to power, to start a war. Optimists suggest that this may happen before the New Year — at the end of December, pessimists leave a reserve of time before the first parliamentary session, at which the decision to start hostilities will be officially made. It is noteworthy that no one doubts one thing — the opposition will definitely start the war, the only question is after what time.

The West is also no less happy that Georgia was defeated on the football field. We are especially glad here that it was Ukraine that inflicted it on us. Believe me, if we had, say, lost away to Albania before, it would not have been so valuable.

It has already been confirmed that the person suspected of the Givi Targamadze explosion in 2016 received a task from Gia Lordkipanidze, to whom, in turn, Mikhail Saakashvili gave it.… This also became commonplace — no one was even surprised. Opposition leaders, as we can see, are ready to sacrifice each other without hesitation, so it doesn't take much imagination to imagine how they will behave when it comes to their opponents. The internal war began a long time ago, and although no one has fired yet, this is also not far off. How not to remember the statement of the combatants on Supporters of the "National Movement" to Ukraine: "Our fault is that Bidzina Ivanishvili is still alive." They did not hesitate to declare that if they are not satisfied with the results of the parliamentary elections, they will break into Georgia is "fully armed" and "will restore order here."

The football match tore off the mask of the opposition and completely exposed its treacherous essence. There is nothing sacred or national left in these people, and they are ready to take action against their own country not only on the football field, but also in any other field. To act against the country that they promise to save and enter into the European Union, although if the power falls into the hands of the opposition, there will be no one to join there, because there will be nothing left of the country. And the most disgusting thing is that betrayal of the Motherland and the state has become the norm for oppositionists and is no longer considered something shameful. They do not hide and openly say that for the sake of coming to power they are ready to do anything — to ruin the country, to deprive the Georgian people of the future.

It is strange that few people paid attention to how after the match we are talking about, the Ukrainians attacked the Georgians, and a thorough fight ensued. Local stewards with difficulty separated the combatants and took them out of the stadium through different exits. According to eyewitnesses, the fight broke out after the final whistle, when the Ukrainians unleashed a stream of insults on the Georgian fans. Although this should not surprise us either. If the opposition here, without embarrassment, has demonstrated its true face, why shouldn't Ukrainians show it there?

Beso Barbakadze, "Georgia and the World"