Romania vs Ukraine live updates: Euro 2024 match team news ...

Huge cheers welcome the two teams out onto the sun-lit Munich Arena pitch.

As for the stands, they are a sea of yellow. The atmosphere is bubbling away nicely inside.

The message was quite simple from Ukraine head coach Serhiy Rebrov ahead of kick-off, speaking just now:

???? “The mood? For most of the players it’s not their first year. They understand the importance of this tournament and I hope they’re ready.

“It’s important today to be motivated. Our extra motivation has to help us. The players understand we have to be as a team. We have good players at big clubs, but today it’s important to be strong as a team.”

And here is the XI starting for Ukraine this afternoon, named by coach Serhiy Rebrov.

That line-up is expected to start in a 4-2-3-1.

Here is the Romania starting XI for this afternoon, expected to play in a 4-1-4-1 formation.

The subs? That will be the rest of the 26-man squad of course.

It is a beautiful, warm day in Munich. It’s 23 degrees Celsius and the sun is drenching the scenes as the two squads arrive at Munich Football Arena and take in surroundings that are usually home to Bayern Munich.

We’ll have the team news with you in 10 minutes or so.

Both teams have also had a look around their dressing rooms. It will be Ukraine playing in their change strip of blue today, with Romania in their traditional yellow.

Hello all and welcome to our live coverage on this fourth day at Euro 2024 — and specifically, the opening game of Group E, as Romania and Ukraine meet in Munich.

It's Michael Bailey here to bring you the rest of our build-up to kick-off, including the team news which isn’t far away now.

I’d love to hear from you too. More on that in a tick.

In short, we’ve got you covered from here. Game time is approaching…

Hoping to use their appearance at Euro 2024 to remind the world that their homeland remains under brutal assault by Russia, Ukraine's football association released a video on Thursday showing the destruction the country has suffered.

Several players from their squad identified their hometown while images of homes reduced to rubble and emergency crews were shown.

The video ends with a message: "Our hometowns would like to host the Euros but now they are fighting not for the tournament, but for freedom. Support Ukraine."

Viewers of the recently finished La Liga season will be familiar with Girona’s unexpected run into a Champions League place and two of the players at the heart of that are in the Ukraine squad.

Artem Dovbyk — scorer of 24 La Liga goals and creator of another eight — will spearhead the attack with left-footed team-mate Viktor Tsyhankov, who managed eight goals and seven assists, behind him on the right wing. Those two will need to continue their domestic form if Ukraine are to make it beyond the group stage.

Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk will be stationed on the other wing and, while he hasn’t shown his best in the Premier League yet, he is capable of changing a game with his pace alone.

With the likes of Roman Yaremchuk and Georgiy Sudakov included in Ukraine’s attacking options, they will certainly be confident of outscoring any of their Group E opponents.

It has been many years since we have seen either a Hagi or Puscas/Puskas at a major international tournament. However, that hiatus will end at Euro 2024 as Romania have one of each.

Rangers winger Ianis Hagi caused quite the fuss when he broke onto the scene in his home country six years ago as he is the son of legendary Romanian midfielder Gheorghe. He has not been able to emulate the success of his father so far as, at 25, he is yet to properly settle in the game.

Further up the pitch for Romania is George Puscas who, unfortunately, is no relation to Real Madrid icon Ferenc Puskas. Although, despite being spelt differently, his surname does come from his Hungarian descent (Hungary being the nation whom Ferenc represented 85 times in his illustrious career).

Two star names who will undoubtedly generate plenty of interest in Germany over the next couple of weeks.

Andriy Yarmolenko arrives at Euro 2024 just two goals behind the legendary Andriy Shevchenko in the all-time goalscoring charts for Ukraine. Yarmolenko has 46 international goals and needs just three more to move out on his own as his nation’s record scorer.

At the age of 34, he doesn’t play as many minutes as he used to and hasn’t completed 90 minutes for Ukraine in a over a year. But, when fit, he has been involved — either starting or from the bench — in 11 of their last 12 matches.

Nowadays, Ukraine fans might look to younger players like Girona pair Viktor Tsyhankov and Artem Dovbyk for their source of goals — they are both included in the top five goalscorers in the squad.

As the most-capped player in the squad, it will not come as any surprise to see that attacking midfielder Nicolae Stanciu is also the top goalscorer in the squad at international level.

He has 14 Romania goals in his 70 appearances and that influence from midfield will be important if his nation are to progress past the group stage. He was joint-top goalscorer for his side in qualifying as he, along with team-mates Denis Alibec and Valentin Mihaila, scored three goals as Romania finished top of Group I.

There is a long way for Stanciu to go to get anywhere near legendary pair Adrian Mutu and Gheorghe Hagi who both scored 35 international goals.

Here is the top five in the current squad:

This is the fourth consecutive European Championship that Ukraine have qualified for, so they have been able to pick up plenty of experience along the way.

And one player that has played in every one of those is Andriy Yarmolenko who comes into Euro 2024 with 119 caps for his country. Only Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who played 144 times for Ukraine, is ahead of him on the list of players with the most caps.

While they cannot quite the boast the international experience of Yarmolenko, there are seven other players in the squad with 50 or more appearances. If Ukraine are to make it through Group E, they will need to rely on all of that experience.

Here are the most-capped players in the squad:

Romania are not quite as experienced of some of their Group E opponents, as the most-capped player in their squad is 31-year-old Nicolae Stanciu with 70 caps.

Their squad is not among the youngest at the tournament — ranked 10th youngest by average age out of 24 — but experience at this level is very limited. They will rely heavily on Stanciu and 55-time capped midfield partner Razvan Marin to bring an inexperienced squad through Euro 2024.

Here are the five players with the most caps in the squad:

Sergei Rebrov is 12 matches into his tenure as Ukraine manager. He has an emerging generation to work with; they are the youngest team to qualify (average starting age under 26) and play expansive, attacking football.

Excluding a recent friendly against Germany in which they played a 5-4-1, Ukraine shape up in a 4-3-3. Arsenal fans will see Oleksandr Zinchenko play as a proper No 8, with Everton’s Vitalii Mykolenko the first-choice left-back.

There is plenty of positional interchanging and short build-up, though they will go long to the No 9 or a winger/advanced full-back against an aggressive press.

Expect to see the full-backs positioned aggressively against a mid-block, with wingers rolling inside to play close to the No 9. The deepest midfielder will drop between the centre-backs, creating a 3-2-5 build-up shape.

Their main routes to goal are crosses and cutbacks, consistently getting three or four players (No 9, No 8, far-side winger) in the box at these scenarios.

GO FURTHER

Euro 2024 Group E guide: Revitalised Belgium, Ukraine’s comebacks and Romania’s direct free kicks

Manager Edward Iordănescu’s 24 matches as Romania boss have seen only six defeats, only two of them by more than one goal, as Romania conceded fewer than a goal per game. Only Portugal (nine) kept more clean sheets than them in qualifying (six). Much of that owes to their structure, at their best in a compact 4-1-4-1 mid-block.

They quickly retreat into that shape from a high press — which they commit to more against inferior opposition — but keep a relatively high defensive line.

Romania ranked second of qualified nations for interceptions and third for tackles. The centre-backs jump aggressively on passes through midfield, while the full-backs and wide midfielders lock teams out wide.

In possession, Romania play for territory more than control. Expect to see wide combinations, especially between full-back, winger and a central midfielder, looking for third-man runs.

GO FURTHER

Euro 2024 Group E guide: Revitalised Belgium, Ukraine’s comebacks and Romania’s direct free kicks

It was an arduous qualification campaign that got Ukraine into Euro 2024 and one that they only just made it through.

They were given the tough task of facing England and Italy in Group C and only missed out behind the Italians on head-to-head record after accumulating the same amount of points (14) from eight matches.

That sent them into the play-offs where they found themselves in Path B along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland and Israel. They were drawn against Bosnia in the one-legged semi-final.

Ukraine went a goal behind not long after half-time as Mykola Matviyenko turned the ball into his own net. But, with five minutes left of the 90, they were able to turn the game on its head thanks to goals from Roman Yaremchuk and Artem Dovbyk.

That 2-1 win sent them into the final against Iceland where they, once again, went 1-0 down after a brilliant first-half opener from Albert Gudmundsson. But the comeback kings revived themselves again with goals from Viktor Tsyhankov and Mykhailo Mudryk sending them to Euro 2024 at Iceland’s expense.

Until 1991, players from Ukraine represented the Soviet Union national team on the international football stage. So Euro 1996 was the first that Ukraine attempted to qualify for as an independent FIFA member.

It was not until 2012 that they played at a European Championship, though, and that was by virtue of co-hosting that tournament with Poland. They have made a habit of qualifying since then, and this will be their fourth consecutive appearance.

They made it into the knockouts for the first time at Euro 2020, only just qualifying as one of the best third-place teams, and then made it past Sweden after extra time in the round of 16. That led them to a quarter-final meeting with England where they were heavily beaten 4-0 in Rome.

Despite being handed a advantageous qualifying group, Romania were not considered favourites to progress.

But progress they did, and in some style. Romania did not lose any of their 10 games in Group I, which was made up of Switzerland, Israel, Belarus, Kosovo and Andorra.

Six wins and four draws against those opponents — including a flawless record of five home wins — saw them ease into Euro 2024 with matches to spare. Sixteen goals was not a particularly fruitful return in front of goal but it was at the other end where they were very impressive.

Romania conceded just five goals across their 10 games – only Portugal (0.2) and France (0.38) conceded fewer goals per game in qualifying.

Romania’s history in the European Championships is not a storied one as this will be just their sixth appearance at the tournament.

And in only one of their previous five appearances have they made it out of their group; reaching the quarter-finals in 2000 where they were beaten 2-0 by eventual finalists Italy.