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Romania vs Ukraine Euro 2024 Predictions: Two sides looking for a positive start in Group E

A clash between two proud Eastern European nations begins proceedings in Group E, but will Romania or Ukraine take a big step towards qualification from the group?

Romania vs Ukraine Euro 2024 Prediction: Two sides looking for a positive start in Group E

Romania vs Ukraine Latest Prediction

Ukraine are the second-highest ranked team in Group E, behind Belgium, but they had to qualify via a two-round play-off. Romania, on the other hand, sealed automatic qualification by topping their group. Romania are yet to taste victory in their four matches in 2024 and ended their pre-tournament preparations with incredibly underwhelming 0-0 draws against Bulgaria and Liechtenstein. Ukraine haven’t convinced recently, either, drawing 0-0 with Germany and losing 3-1 against Poland before a morale-boosting 4-0 win against Moldova.

Romania’s winless streak may continue at Euro 2024, for one worrying reason, heading into Euro 2024 without a goal in their last two games. And goals may be at a premium with Nicolae Stanciu the top scorer of their Euro 2024 squad on 14 goals in 70 appearances.

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Romania and Ukraine get their Euro 2024 campaigns underway on Monday in Munich with both hoping to get off to a positive start in what looks like an evenly-matched group for second or potentially third place.

Romania surprised a few people by topping their qualification group. It was the first time that Tricolorii had topped any qualification group for a major tournament since Euro 2008, and only their second qualification for any tournament since then, having also qualified for Euro 2016. However, they haven’t won a match in the final stages of a major tournament since Euro 2000, when a last-gasp penalty saw them qualify for the quarter-finals at England’s expense.

This is Ukraine’s fourth straight qualification for the European Championships. They qualified from the group in Euro 2020, eventually reaching the quarter-finals where they lost 0-4 to England in Rome. Despite the result, this classes as Ukraine’s best major tournament result since the World Cup in 2006 where they also reached the quarter-finals. They haven’t managed to qualify for a World Cup since then though.

Romania Latest Team News

There are high hopes in Romania that they have a group of players to lead them out of the doldrums they have been in since the glory days of Romanian football in the 1990s. That team of Gheorghe Hagi, Dan Petrescu, Gheorghe Popescu et al reached the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup, as well as qualifying for every major tournament for a decade.

This new generation will be at their peak over the next few years with most of the players in their mid-to-late 20s, so they are not young, but they just have that level of experience where they could be ready to kick on. There is no real major star either, with Radu Dragusin, who joined Tottenham Hotspur earlier this year (a la Popescu and Dimitrescu of the 1990s) probably the one who is closest to fitting that bill.

The attack will be led by former Reading striker George Puscas, with support from Rangers man Ianis Hagi (son of Gheorghe) — who spent 2023/24 on loan at Alaves –,Denis Dragus, and captain Nicolae Stanciu.

Goalkeeper Horatiu Moldovan signed for Atletico Madrid in January, but is still awaiting his debut for the club. The midfield and defence is solid, but with no real standout quality, bar Dragusin.

Ukraine Latest Team News

Ukraine had a particularly tough qualification group with England and Italy. To qualify for this finals was a good achievement given the circumstances of the group, but also the ongoing conflict at home.

Ukraine have an exciting group of attacking players, many of whom are young and in good or better form. Indeed, many of the players have become household names in the UK due to playing in the Premier League. Oleksandr Zinchenko has patrolled the left flank of the Premier League’s best for a decade or so, but the Ukraine captain is deployed in midfield for his country, which allows Everton’s Vitaly Mykolenko to bomb up and down the left.

  • Read more: Ukraine odds to win Euro 2024: Probability, path to final, tactics, stats and final squad

Mykailo Mudryk is a big goal threat with his pace, Viktor Tsygankov has been the provider extraordinaire for Girona’s surprise Champions League-securing campaign, where he has a great partnership with Artem Dovbyk, who won the Pichichi as La Liga’s top scorer.

Georgiy Sudakov and Illya Zabarnyi have made superb starts to their careers as well, and at only 21, they are the future of this team moving forwards. Indeed, there is a good mix of experience and exciting youth in this Ukraine squad. Even the goalkeepers have strength in depth with Bushchan, the former No.1, making way for both Andriy Lunin, who excelled for Real Madrid, and Benfica’s No.1 Anatoliy Trubin.

Romania vs Ukraine Head to Head

There have been six meetings between these countries, but none of them have been in competitive international play. Romania won the first three friendlies, but Ukraine have won the last three. However, the countries haven’t met at all since 2016, so much of the history is irrelevant for this tie.

Romania vs Ukraine H2H
Date Score Ground
29/05/16 3-4 Stadio Olimpico, Turin
08/02/11 2-2 Municipal, Paralimni
29/05/10 2-3 Lviv, Ukraine
20/08/03 2-0 Donetsk, Kiev
27/03/02 4-1 Constanta, Romania
26/02/01 1-0 Nicosia, Cypruse

How to watch Romania vs Ukraine Live

Group E sees Romania take on Ukraine at Munich Arena on June 17 and all of the action will be live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, as well as online on the BBC website. 

Every game at Euro 2024 will be shown live on either BBC or ITV, with the two platforms sharing the broadcast rights.

Group E
Date Fixture Ground
17/06 Romania vs Ukraine (2pm) Allianz Arena, Munich
*All times BST