PSG against FC Bayern in the Champions League: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in portrait

Take Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, PSG’s left wing. Whenever the Georgian performs a series of feints, twisting and weaving past his opponents, head low, arms flailing like a crawler, the commentators let out a “Kvaradona”. Of course the young man is a very talented footballer, even a very, very, very talented one. But the question is allowed: Does this association fit with one of the greatest of this sport, with Diego Armando Maradona, a man with two heavenly feet and at least one divine hand?

Well, in Paris they are now dissecting a scene in which the essence of the game of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, 25 years old, has perhaps ideally congealed. Eight seconds, one concentrate.

It’s the 24th minute in the game that many football fans want to keep in their hearts for all eternity because it felt like an ode to joy, the first leg of the semi-final of the Champions League PSG vs. FC Bayern in the Parc des Princes in Paris. Bayern lead 1-0. Kvaratskhelia moves along the left sideline, up and down, like a yo-yo. So far he hasn’t got much out of the game, he’s literally marginalized, which interestingly happens to him from time to time in the French championship, Ligue 1. It is always said that he just lacks a bit of motivation against FC Lorient and Le Havre.

Minutes 23:50. Désiré Doué spoons the ball from midfield into the back of Bayern’s right-back, Josip Stanisic, who had been put off by a physical move by the Georgian the second before and is now suddenly in an unfair running duel towards his own penalty area, out of nowhere. He runs after him and catches up with him in the penalty area, minute 23:55.

When war came to Ukraine he was 21. He returned home and then moved to Naples

But then “Kvara” taps the ball lightly with his right outer instep, four times, five times, around Stanisic, and flicks it past all of the outstretched legs into the wide, right corner of the goal. 1:1, minute 23:58. Then he turns away with a grim expression, the cuffs just above his ankles as always, as if he already knew that there was much, much more to come.

No smile plays on his mouth, no smug triumph, just this fierce determination: Go ahead, do it again! He also leaves out the silly goal celebration that he usually performs: “Ice in the veins,” which he copied from an American basketball player. He mimes a shot with the syringe in the left forearm.

Not this time. He has just succeeded in his specialty again, his parade number, which everyone now knows and every opponent knows, but which still often works. As a right-footed player on the left wing, he has to turn at some point when attacking and move at least a little to the center in order to put himself in an ideal position for the finish, for the cross, for the pass. It’s in the nature of things, although he’s strong with both feet. As is well known, with Arjen Robben it was the other way around, left-footed on the right wing. But even if everyone knew, who would stop him? Is that why “Kvararobben” might be a better fit?

Sometimes the number doesn’t work, of course. Then Kvaratskhelia gets stuck in this dance with the defender, which upon closer inspection is more reminiscent of a bullfight: “Kvara” heaves himself forward with a hop, as if he could hardly wait for this moment, over and over again, as if he wanted to use his energy to knock over everything and everyone on the way forward. Even if he fails nine times in a row, he tries again a tenth time. In any case, the audience only remembers the successful numbers, the masterpieces.

Kvaratskhelia is also called “Kvaravaggio” and that is at least witty.

The nicknames come from his time in Italy. “Kvara”, who was born in Tbilisi as the son of an Azerbaijani international, played in Georgia, Russia and Ukraine before moving to SSC Napoli in 2022. When the war came to Ukraine and stopped football there, he was only 21. He returned home briefly and then moved to Naples for a transfer fee of ten million euros. A bargain, as it turns out. He earned 1.8 million euros, a mediocre salary at best.

“His versatility makes him an alien,” says his former coach Spalletti

Well, Napoli became champions in their first year with “Kvara”. 33 years after the last one up to that point Scudettoa small eternity after Maradona. The Georgian was also voted Serie A’s best player that season. When had the Italians last seen a dribbler like him, fearless in one-on-one situations? The first child Khvicha was baptized in Naples in the master’s year.

“Kvaradona” is a bridge between eras, a Neapolitan evidence, so to speak. Luciano Spalletti, his coach at the time, once said of Kvaratskhelia: “His versatility makes him an alien.” He dominates the game on both wings, but can also play the false nine if necessary.

But if “Kvara” is an alien, then what was the Argentine? With Maradona you sometimes wondered which came first, football or him. Everything seemed light as a feather. He transcended the game, the whole game.

Kvaratskhelia wouldn’t want to claim this footballing relationship for himself, he’s too modest for that. His idol has always been Cristiano Ronaldo. In Naples he wore the number 77 because the 7 was already gone. In Paris he inherited the 7 from Kylian Mbappé. The two Luis from PSG, coach Luis Enrique and sports director Luis Campos, wanted to bring Kvaratskhelia to them as early as the summer of 2024, absolutely. But then another six months went by, then he moved for 70 million euros and a salary of a rumored 10.8 million.

“Kvara” was ready for the move after two and a half years in the constant storm of Naples. The city embraces its idols, it crushes them with its love and its madness, it creates everyone. Maradona stayed for eight years and lost himself in Naples forever.

So Kvaratskhelia left in time, exhausted, extinguished. And in a short time he became a walking symbol of what Luis Enrique expects from a modern, system-functional striker: intensity, a lot of movement without the ball. “Kvara” was supposed to be the antithesis of Mbappé, who was always a bit too ashamed to work on the defensive. The new guy, on the other hand, was well educated in these matters. Antonio Conte, his last coach in Naples, also demanded this absolute commitment from his players, or as the Italians say: “grinta”.

If the sacrifice for the team is right, then an arabesque can sometimes fail. “He has crazy energy,” says Luis Enrique.

It’s not just the odds that show: Kvaratskhelia only really wakes up on the nights of the premier class

But just: The Georgian’s “grinta” is especially right on the nights of the premier class, then he really wakes up. The statistics also show this. So far this season, Kvaratskhelia has scored 18 times, including ten times in the 14 Champions League games, making him one of the top scorers in the competition. There were also seven crucial passes. On average he scores every 139 minutes in Europe and every 268 in the French championship. Odds don’t lie.

In his case, the fantasies surrounding the name are also due to a particular, albeit understandable, laziness. His name has so many consonants in an unusual sequence, especially for ears beyond the South Caucasus, that even the reporters who have to write it often still copy and paste it, one thing is certain – now, here again, copy&paste: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Or, no better: Chwitscha Kwarazchelia, the German form of transcription.

When he signed for PSG, the newspaper asked The Parisian Asked a university professor of South Caucasian languages ​​how to pronounce the name correctly. For example, we learned that the Georgians roll the R in their throat to make it scratch, like the Spanish say the J or the German-Swiss say the Ch. And the Ch is a “tsch” in Georgian.

In any case, the young man has made a name for himself, which is already ringing quite loudly through the world of football even without being linked to Maradona. “Kvara” is enough, scratched.