Though there were plenty of empty seats in the Stadion na Sihoti, the atmosphere was as positive as the start made by the Georgians.
However, Odisharia’s over-exuberance in just the fifth minute saw him clatter Portugal’s Flavia Nazinho, and he was sent off for a reckless challenge after a VAR review.
Initially, Georgia weren’t too badly affected, and a fantastic long-range, swerving left-footed hit from Irakli Azarovi saw Portugal’s keeper, Samuel Soares, having to go full length to tip the ball past the post.
Esperanças took time to get going, but once into their rhythm, Diogo Nascimento and Paulo Bernardo began to dictate proceedings from midfield. Also, Geovany Quenda’s excellence in possession particularly stood out, and Portugal’s opener eventually arrived on 24 minutes, albeit in somewhat anticlimactic fashion, when Rodrigo Pinheiro’s weak and speculative shot was spilt into the net by Luka Kharatishvili.
That set the tone for Portuguese dominance in the remaining first-half minutes, and with Portugal reaching half-time, having seen 72% of the ball, a visibly-tired Georgia were somewhat relieved to only be 1-0 down as the whistle went, rather than disappointed.
Frustration grew for Georgia after the restart as the same pattern quickly emerged, and a handful of free-kicks could’ve been easily avoided had they channelled their aggression in a more positive manner.
With an hour gone, 500 passes from Portugal compared to 182 for Georgia hinted at the work needed from the 10 men if qualification was to remain a realistic possibility, but that was all but extinguished when Quenda showed his quality once more and waltzed through a static defence and fired home to make it two.
The remainder of the game resembled a training ground exercise as Portugal simply toyed with their opponents. A daisy cutter from Saba Mamatsashvili that Soares scooped up with ease was as good as it got for the 10 men of Georgia, who had long given up on getting anything from the game.
Portugal didn’t get off too lightly, though, as a scything tackle on Quenda late on saw him having to leave the pitch early, putting a sour end on a standout performance.
Portugal still had more to come, as an outswinging corner with three to play saw the ball flicked on to an unmarked Rodrigo Gomes, who stooped low to head into the net, rubbing even more salt into Georgian wounds.
But the goalscoring still wasn’t over, as yet another reckless challenge gave the official no option but to award an injury-time penalty, dispatched low and hard with ease by Henrique Araújo.
The early red card was clearly a factor in Georgia bowing out of the tournament, though by virtue of their win over Poland, they could at least be consoled by not finishing bottom of the group.
Table-toppers Portugal didn’t concede for the third game in a row - after letting in at least one goal in the six games prior to their opening group game, which bodes well for the remainder of the tournament.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Geovany Quenda (Portugal)