Kaladze himself captained both teams, playing for Milan in the first 40 minutes and then moving over to play with his Georgian "Friends" after half time, while the game was still tied. His defection seemed to help. "Kaladze's Friends" conceded two goals in the 71st and 74th minutes with the titular player on their side to go down 3-1 before he was subbed out in the 77th, effectively ending the game in an explosion of flares, fireworks, confetti, and a speech by the prime minister.

But while the match captured the attention of the small Caucasus nation, it comes at a time when the country as a whole is under the increasingly scrutinous gaze of the international community.

Since the new government led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream coalition took over last fall, it has drawn criticism from Western organizations and governments -- most recently for failing to protect pro-LGBT rights demonstrators from an angry mob and for arresting the country's top opposition leader.

Last month, Ivanishvili made a politically risky statement for conservative Georgia by declaring sexual minorities to be "equal citizens" and that "society will gradually get used it" ahead of a planned demonstration on the International Day Against Homophobia. But police arrived at the demonstration outnumbered and without batons or other crowd control equipment despite the expectation of a counter protest. In a country where the Orthodox Church wields considerable influence and priests are revered, the police put up little resistance as the estimated crowd of 20,000 led by clergymen turned violent and chased the activists through the streets, smashing up buses they used to try and escape.

Twenty-eight people were injured in the violence, but just eight alleged perpetrators -- including two priests -- have since been charged, all on small offenses. Another assailant who allegedly punched a female opposition MP in the face in a separate but similar security breakdown in February got off with probation.

Observers have also expressed concerns that the current government is waging its own campaign of vengeful, selective justice against its defeated opponents.

Since the elections, the government has charged dozens of ex-officials including the former ministers of health, defense, interior, and justice with crimes mostly relating to abuses of power and corruption during the campaign period. The highest-profile arrest, however, came two weeks ago when former prime minister and potential presidential candidate Vano Merabishvili was arrested for embezzling state funds and ordering excessive force against opposition protesters.

Joao Soares, chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, criticized Merabishvili's arrest, saying in a statement that "putting your political opponents behind bars will not help solve any problems, on the contrary, it will create new ones."