Ukraine will take on first-time participants North Macedonia this afternoon (Thursday) in the UEFA Euro 2020 at the National Arena in Bucharest.
Andriy Shevchenko’s men were involved in arguably the most entertaining game on Matchday 1 when they came back from a 2-0 deficit with a fantastic second-half performance.
Unfortunately, a late goal from Denzel Dumfries sealed all three points for the Oranje.
Macedonia, too, had to settle for a soul-crushing defeat in their first game against Austria.
After Goran Pandev’s equaliser in the first half, the tournament newbies produced a valiant defensive effort to keep their opposition attack at bay, frustrating them at every opportunity.
However, they struggled to defend David Alaba’s sumptuous cross for Michael Gregoritsch, who scored the winner in the 78th minute before Marko Arnautovic sealed all three points after an 89th minute strike.
The result perhaps flattered the Austrians, but their three points in the opening fixture mean both North Macedonia and Ukraine must seal a victory on Matchday 2 if they are to have any hopes of directly qualifying.
Ukraine Vs Macedonia Lineup
Ukraine XI (4-3-3): Bushchan, Karavayev, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko, Shaparenko, Stepanenko, Zinchenko, Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Malinovskiy
Macedonia XI (5-3-2): Dimitrievski, Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu, Nikolov, Ademi, Spirovski, Alioski, Bardhi, Pandev, Elmas
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Kick off is at 14:00 (GMT +1).
This article was most recently revised and updated 3 years ago
