A dream debut

A call from the National Team is a pivotal moment in the sporting career of a footballer. This is how Giorgi Khabuliani feels and he cannot hide his pride at the prospect of donning his country’s kit for the first time, “I’m happy because I have accomplished what I was aiming for and am now among the best players in Georgia. From here on I will get more opportunities in professional football. I have to make the most of this opportunity”.

Georgi has spent the whole season at Marcet’s High Performance Academy and thinks that his time in Barcelona has been key for the call from the National U15’s. “Here I have learned what real football is. I wasn’t a good player before. I had too many shortcomings and was also over weight, but at Marcet I became focused, I was patient and began to improve. In Georgia there are better footballers than me, but I’m training in Spain and that ended up making a difference”.

“I’m happy because I have reached what I was aiming for and now I am among the best players in Georgia”

The Caucasian forward has been working on personal objectives all year, not only with his trainer but also with the team’s analyst. These sessions have been intensified during the week leading up to his debut in the ranks of the National Team. “We are working on my position on the pitch, studying my strengths and weaknesses, analyzing my plays one by one… Now I understand everything I have to do in my position, how I have to move on the field, the types of unmarking I should do…”.

Giorgi is also thankful for having a sports psychologist at his disposal. “This season I went through a bad spell. Things weren’t turning out as I wanted and I wasn’t scoring goals. Héctor [Canyelles] helped me a lot. He gave me good advice on how to manage my feelings during a match. Thanks to him I was able to overcome that moment of uncertainty and I started scoring like before”.

In the face of the gathering with the U15’s, Giorgi met with the psychologist once more to study how to tackle this important citation. “He told me that with the National Team there is no need to act any differently. I have to play how I would here in Barcelona, without getting nervous. And this is exactly what I’ll do”, vowed the striker just before travelling to his country, where he lived up to his word in the match against Turkey, in which, not only did the foul against him lead to the first goal, but he scored the second making the definitive score of 2-0.

A dream debut for a player who is already turning his dreams into reality. So much so, that his performance against Turkey did not go unnoticed in Istanbul, since Besiktas noticed Giorgi at the end of 2020. “They contacted me and invited me to tryout with them,” recalls the 16 years old player, who is already training with the second team of the Turkish club (U-19): “I have reached a great goal. I am very happy and I will do everything in my power so that my fans and my family are also happy.”