Romania kick off their UEFA Euro 2024 campaign against Ukraine at the Allianz Arena on Monday. Romania are back in the group stage after failing to qualify in the previous edition, while Ukraine will be making their fourth consecutive appearance in the competition.
Belgium and Slovakia are the other two teams in Group E, so it should be a tight battle to advance to the knockout stages of the qualifiers. Romania was one of only six teams to maintain an unbeaten record in the qualifying campaign.
The Tricolors have gone winless in 2024 and have drawn three of their four friendlies this year. They played out goalless draws against Bulgaria and Liechtenstein in their pre-Euro warm-ups earlier this month.
Team news
Due to a lack of goals in 2024, the identity of Romania’s only striker for the Euros is still up for debate, with Denis Alibec, George Puscas and Denis Dragus all vying to start up front.
In goal, stopper Florin Nita hopes to replace Atlético Madrid’s Horatia Moldavan, who has not featured for the Spanish side since arriving in the winter transfer window.
Captain Nicolae Stanciu is a sure-fire starter in midfield, having scored 14 goals in his international career so far, but skilful winger Olimpia Morutan has been sidelined with an ACL injury this summer, leaving the door open for Parma duo Valentin Mihaila and Dennis Man.
Meanwhile, first-choice defender Serhiy Rebrov will be unavailable on Monday with Vitaliy Mykolenko picking up an ankle injury, so Oleksandr Zinchenko is expected to move from midfield to cover the Everton defender’s absence.
Mykhailo Mudryk and Viktor Tsygankov are set to start out wide and Shakhtar Donetsk star Heorhiy Sudakov should take up an advanced role in midfield.
Andriy Yarmolenko has been involved in five of Ukraine’s eight European Championship goals with two goals and three assists, but Artem Dovbyk has claimed La Liga’s Pichichi award in a successful first season for Girona and is most likely to start up front.
Romania’s starting lineup:
Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Burca, Bancu; M. Marin, R. Marin; Man, Stanciu, Mihaila; Dragus
Ukraine’s starting lineup:
Lunin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Zinchenko; Shaparenko, Stepanenko, Sudakov; Tsygankov, Dovbyk, Mudryk
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