Predicted XIs Georgia-Spain: La Roja go for World Cup qualification without key players | OneFootball

Spain can book their place at next summer’s World Cup with a victory over Georgia in their penultimate qualifying match. La Roja need to better Türkiye’s result in order to be confirmed as the latest nation to be in North America, and while that is unlikely to happen on Saturday, all they can do is focus on themselves.

Spain have an excellent record against Georgia, having beaten them by an aggregate score of 16-3 (four meetings) over the last two years. They will fancy their chances of improving this scoreline in Tbilisi, although they will be without the likes of Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams and Pedri. However, that presents an opportunity for others to step up.

According to Marca, Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente will make four changes to the side that defeated Bulgaria last time out. Real Madrid’s Dean Huijsen missed the last international break due to injury, but he is expected to partner Aymeric Laporte in the centre of defence, with Marc Cucurella in for Alejandro Grimaldo at left-back. In midfield, Fabian Ruiz is expected to replace Pedri, while Yeremy Pino is planned to return to the side in place of Samu Aghehowa.

Marca’s predicted line-ups for Georgia-Spain in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. (Image via Marca)

As for Georgia, their World Cup qualifying hopes are realistically at an end in this group, given that they trail Türkiye by six points with two matches to go. Nevertheless, they will want to cause an upset, and to do so, they will need Paris Saint-Germain’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to be at his best in attack, with the same being said for former Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, now at Liverpool.

Can Spain take a step closer to World Cup qualification?

Four points in their next two matches will be enough for Spain to stamp their ticket for next summer’s World Cup, and they will hope that the first three of those will come in Tbilisi on Saturday.