On one sunny spring afternoon in the Georgian capital on 29 May 2015, the Spanish U19 national team began a mini-tournament in Tbilisi, a qualifying tournament that Spain would win fifty days later in Greece.

At the helm of the national team was an experienced coach from La Rioja, who had arrived with the U19s two years earlier. His name was Luis de la Fuente Castillo, who managed to get his international honours list off to a perfect start by winning that European Championships.

In the following years, the current head coach of the Senior Spain team would go on to win gold at the Mediterranean Games (2018), the European Under-21 Championships in Italy (2019), Olympic silver in Tokyo (2021) and, in his current position, the UEFA Nations League for Spain (2023).

A golden journey that began that afternoon in Georgia, against the same country that are Spain's next opponents this Sunday in the last 16 of this exciting European Championships.

"I've learned a lot since then and I have very good memories of that tournament because of the level we played at, the demands and also the qualities that Georgia showed. Even back then, we were beginning to get a glimpse of what they could achieve in the future, as we are now seeing," said the Spanish coach, who in that long-ago match in Tbilisi had goalkeeper Unai Simón and midfielders Rodrigo Hernández and Mikel Merino, who are now key pillars of his side in Germany.

A meeting of time and space repeats this Sunday in the city of Cologne, where Georgia will be wanting to mark their path to glory against Luis de la Fuente’s Spain once again. Two teams again joined by the destiny of the draw, whose journey will lead to glory?