Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has become one of Europe’s top creative talents.
Paris St-Germain’s Georgia winger has lit up the Champions League this season but maintains a low profile off the pitch.
Champions League impact
The 25-year-old has been directly involved in seven goals (four goals, three assists) in nine Champions League matches. This makes him PSG’s top scorer in the competition and the player with the highest overall goal contributions.
Next up for the defending European champions are Chelsea, who travel to Paris on Wednesday in the last-16 first leg. Chelsea have tried to sign ‘Kvaradona’ in the past.
“I consider myself a simple person,” Kvaratskhelia says. “I try to stay grounded, listen to my family, and always remember who I am and where I come from.”
Early Life in Tbilisi
Kvaratskhelia’s family home in Tbilisi doesn’t reveal that a global football star was raised there.
It is a Soviet-era apartment block, surrounded by identical neighbours and the sounds of a working-class district. Inside the building is his father, Badri – a former Dinamo Tbilisi player and Azerbaijan international – and his mother, Maka.
It was a warm, welcoming home, not full of luxuries, but filled with memories. There were photographs, trophies, and shirts. Among them was the first shirt he ever wore for Dinamo Tbilisi.
“Because this is where Khvicha’s professional career started. It has to be the Dinamo one,” Maka said. “His path to the top started here.”
Kvaratskhelia still uses his small bedroom whenever he returns. There is a computer table, a keyboard, large headphones and a gaming chair.
Born on 12 February 2001, football was inseparable from his life from an early age. As his mother recalls, he walked with the ball, slept with the ball.
From Dinamo Tbilisi to Russia
As a graduate of the Dinamo Tbilisi academy, he made his professional debut at 16 in 2017 before moving to Rustavi and then on loan to Lokomotiv Moscow. At Lokomotiv Moscow he received his first significant salary, money which allowed him to pay for life-saving heart surgery for his father.
“It wasn’t even a question to him,” said Badri.
On 22 May 2019, the 18-year-old would win his first major honour when Lokomotiv Moscow won the Russian Cup.
A move to Rubin Kazan followed, where he would spend three seasons and twice win the best young player in the Russian League.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought an end to his stay, when
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia helped Paris St-Germain win the Treble last season.