MADRID, 16 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The football teams of Romania and Ukraine will face each other this Monday (3:00 p.m.) at the Allianz Arena in Munich, a duel that will start Group E in the men’s Euro Cup and that will serve the Ukrainian team to respond to the many looks of curiosity it receives. , against a rival in the middle of a streak of negative results.
The pupils of Sergei Rebrov, who has been coach for a year, seem destined to be the revelation of the tournament. In its context, arguments of all kinds have accumulated, not just sports, since the country has been at war since the Russian Army began its invasion of Ukrainian territory on February 24, 2022.
The resilience that has since been attributed to managers, coaches, footballers, referees and fans of Ukraine, as an active part of a society hit by the horror of the bombs, has taken over much of the football news in the last two years and half.
This EURO is the first major national team tournament that Ukraine will play in since the Russian invasion, after having been left out of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. And it will do so with Mijailo Mudryk, Chelsea FC’s playmaker, as the banner of a talented generation where the attacking team stands out. duo formed by Artem Dovbyk and Victor Tsygankov, teammates at Girona FC.
Both have put together stellar performances this season to sustain the Girona team’s historic third place in LaLiga EA Sports, including qualification for the 2024/25 Champions League. Both Mudryk, Dovbyk and Tsygankov are aiming to start for the debut against Romania.
In the goal of that starting lineup, presumably, there will also be Andriy Lunin. Not in vain, the Real Madrid player has already recovered from the strange flu B that prevented him from performing normally in the last month of competition under Carlo Ancelotti, losing his place to the Belgian Thibaut Courtois at the most inopportune moment.
Despite being the hero of Real Madrid in the quarter-finals against Manchester City, with key saves in the penalty shoot-out, and then showing a similar version in the semi-finals against Bayern Munich, Lunin was left without playing on the last 1 June the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium, with success for the meringues.
On Romania’s part, three draws and one defeat in their last four games, all warm-up friendlies and with only three goals scored, have set off alarm bells. Their brilliant qualifying phase for this competition, without losing in ten rounds and finishing as group leader, has been suddenly tarnished by this streak.
The Romanian coach, Edward Iordanescu, in principle has his entire squad available for the debut in this EURO. In goal, Colchonero Horatiu Moldovan is fighting to be a starter, who has not played a single minute in club matches since he signed for Atlético de Madrid in the last winter market, always in the shadow of Jan Oblak.
To face the offensive tasks, the ‘Tricolorii’ will cling to the inspiration of Ianis Hagi, playmaker of Deportivo Alavés and son of the legendary Gheorghe Hagi – top scorer in the history of his team -. In any case, Romania’s recent goalless draw in a duel with Liechtenstein could make Iordanescu change his plans.
DATASHEET.
–POSIBLE ALIGNMENTS:
ROMANIA: Moldovan; Ratiu, Dragusin, Rus, Bancu; M.Marin, R.Marin; Stanciu, Hagi, Dragus; and Mihaila.
UKRAINIA: Lunin; Konoplia, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Zinchenko; Shaparenko, Stepanenko, Sudakov, Mudryk; Tsygankov and Dovbyk.
–REFEREE: Glenn Nyberg (SUE).
–STADIUM: Allianz Arena (Munich).
–TIME: 15.00/La 2 and Teledeporte.