We have another triple header of action at the Euro 2024 tournament on Monday and we get started in Munich where we open up Group E of the competition when Romania and Ukraine get their campaigns underway.
These two sides will both be aware that Belgium are awaiting for them later in this section so they will be eager to get off to a positive start to take away some of the pressure when they meet them later in the competition.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the BBC1 channel in the UK with the build-up to the contest beginning at 1.30pm with the game kicking off at 2pm.
Romania
Romania are back at the European Championship for the first time in eight years and having qualified with an unbeaten record they will be keen to get out of the group, something they haven’t achieved since 2000. You can pick a lot of holes in their qualifying record if you so wish but they will be carrying plenty of confidence from that campaign and with nobody really taking them seriously here they might be able to play under the radar as they go about trying to cause an upset.
The big problem with this Romanian side is where the goals are going to come from. They only scored 16 times in 10 matches in qualifying and while we shouldn’t get too hung up on warm up matches, the fact that they couldn’t score against Bulgaria and Liechtenstein in the last fortnight has to be something of a concern. The Romanians do have a good defensive record with Tottenham defender Radu Dragusin probably their leading light there. They’ll need him and that unit to go well here.
Ukraine
After suffering the most heartbreaking VAR decision against them in the final match of qualifying for this tournament, Ukraine deserve a ton of credit for dusting themselves down and finding it within themselves to go through the play-offs and make it to these finals. That is only heightened when you also factor in everything that is going on back home at the same time as well. Now that they have made it here they will be looking to do plenty of damage.
Ukraine were quarter finalists in this tournament three years ago and there are a number of people who think that the squad they will be taking to Germany with them is stronger than the one which represented them back in 2021. If that is the case then this could be an exciting campaign for the Ukrainians. If that is to be the case they probably need to show that they have what it takes in the attacking area of the pitch, but with Artem Dovbyk in their ranks that should be possible.
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Team News
Romania have not been helped in their attacking play with the ACL injury that Olimpiu Morutan sustained which will keep him out of the tournament. Spurs’ Radu Dragutin is expected to feature at the heart of the defence.
Sergey Rebrov could be forced to move Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back for this match rather than the midfield position he usually adopts for his country as Everton defender Vitaliy Mykolenko is a doubt with an injury.
Betting
There are a lot of people who are billing Ukraine as dark horses for this tournament and if that is to be the case then they will need to be good enough to see off a Romania side for whom there is more than an air of thought that they were flattered by their record in qualifying and for who you would imagine goals are going to continue to be a real issue at these finals, as I suggested when I previewed this group before a ball was kicked.
Ukraine certainly have quality up top. They have La Liga’s leading scorer in Artem Dovbyk in their ranks while Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has the pace to frighten anyone and then Roman Yaremchuk and Andriy Yarmolenko are canny operators at this level. I’m not completely cut up on Ukraine at the back and that might be an issue going forward but I expect them to have control of the game in the middle of the park and ultimately too much for Romania here.
Tips
Back Ukraine to beat Romania for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Betway