Preview: Georgia vs Bulgaria - prediction, team news, lineups

Georgia and Bulgaria will both be looking to bounce back from defeats when they continue their respective 2026 World Cup qualification campaigns with a clash in Tbilisi on Sunday.

The hosts opened their Group E challenge with a 3-2 defeat to Turkey, while the visitors lost 3-0 to Spain, so there will be pressure on both to respond when they lock horns at the Boris Paichadze National Stadium.

Match preview

Georgia ultimately gave themselves too much to do in the second half of their Group E opener against Turkey, with Willy Sagnol's side three goals behind in 52nd minute of the contest.

Zuriko Davitashvili and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia registered twice for Georgia, as the hosts looked to stage a late comeback, but they were unable to find a third, so it proved to be a 3-2 loss in their opening World Cup qualifier.

The Crusaders have never qualified for the finals of a World Cup, so they are looking to create history, but the national side famously managed to book their spot at the European Championships last summer.

Indeed, Georgia went on to reach the round of 16 at Euro 2024, overcoming Portugal en route, but they were beaten 4-1 by eventual winners Spain in the first knockout round.

Georgia have only won two of their previous eight matches against Bulgaria, suffering four defeats in the process, but the last game between the two sides in the Nations League finished goalless in June 2022.

Bulgaria, meanwhile, opened their Group E campaign with a 3-0 defeat to Spain on Thursday night, and it was a disappointing performance from the Lions.

Ilian Iliev's team were three goals behind at the interval, with Mikel Oyarzabal, Marc Cucurella and Mikel Merino on the scoresheet, and they were simply unable to recover against the European champions.

Bulgaria have been to the finals of a World Cup on seven previous occasions, with their best performance at the competition coming in 1994, finishing fourth.

The Lions failed to make it out of the group stage in their last participation in 1998, and they have actually not managed to make the finals of a major tournament since Euro 2004.

As a result, it is a big ask for Bulgaria to finish first or second in the group, but in order to challenge, this is a match that Iliev's team simply have to win.

Georgia World Cup Qualifying - Europe form:

Georgia form (all competitions):

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Bulgaria World Cup Qualifying - Europe form:

Bulgaria form (all competitions):

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Team News

Georgia have not reported any injury concerns from their clash with Turkey, and it would not be a surprise to see the same XI take to the field for the first whistle on Sunday.

Kvaratskhelia is the star, and the Paris Saint-Germain attacker will be bidding to add to the 19 goals that he has scored for his country in 42 appearances.

Georges Mikautadze is actually the leading goalscorer in the squad with 20, and the Villarreal striker is now just six goals shy of the all-time scoring record for his country.

As for Bulgaria, there are expected to be changes to the side that started against Spain.

Head coach Iliev is unlikely to completely shuffle his pack, but there could be introductions for Marin Petkov and Rosen Bozhinov, who were the first two substitutes off the bench against La Roja.

Kiril Despodov, who is the leading goalscorer in the squad with 15, was an unused substitute against Spain, but he is also expected to feature in the starting side on Sunday.

Georgia possible starting lineup:

Mamardashvili; Kakabadze, Kashia, Goglichidze, Lochoshvili; Tsitaishvili, Kochkorashvili, Mekvabishvili, Davitashvili; Mikautadze, Kvaratskhelia

Bulgaria possible starting lineup:

Vutsov; Nedyalkov, Dimitrov, Tesnov, Bozhinov; Gruev, Petkov; Minkov, Chochev, Kirilov; Despodov

We say: Georgia 2-1 Bulgaria

Both sides will be desperate to bounce back from defeats, and we are expecting a close match on Sunday. However, Georgia have a lot of quality in the forward areas, and we are backing the hosts to emerge victorious here.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.