The two bottom sides in Group G will meet on Friday evening when Bulgaria host Lithuania at the Vasil Levski National Stadium, with both teams searching for their first win in Euro 2024 qualifying.
Neither team can qualify for the main tournament – which will be held in Germany next summer – but Friday's encounter is realistically their last chance to get their first win after five consecutive winless games.
Match preview
The hosts go into this match on the back of a disappointing game against Montenegro just over a month ago, when Mladen Krstajic's side failed to pick up a single point despite having a player advantage for more than half an hour.
Bulgaria trailed 1-0 in the first half through a Stefan Savic goal in stoppage time, but then had a great chance to win the game when Igor Vujacic received his second yellow card of the match for conceding a penalty for a foul on Spas Delev and was subsequently sent off.
Kiril Despodov stepped up to take the penalty, but his attempt was saved by Milan Mijatovic. Preslav Borukov, however, equalised with less than 15 minutes left of normal time before Stevan Jovetic scored the winner six minutes into injury time.
It was Bulgaria's third defeat in five games having begun their qualifying campaign with back-to-back defeats against Montenegro and Hungary before claiming draws away to Friday's opponents Lithuania and at home to Serbia.
The Lions have evidently had problems in the offensive end so far and are the team with the fewest goals in the group with only three scored after five games. The team clearly lacks scoring prowess, averaging more than one big chance per game but failing to convert them.
Lithuania, on the other hand, come into this match on the back of a 3-1 defeat to Montenegro's neighbours Serbia.
An Aleksandar Mitrovic hat-trick in the first half dashed any hopes Edgaras Jankauskas's side had of standing up to one of the group favourites, with Gytis Paulauskas pulling one back just before half time to make the result less damaging for the Lithuanians.
They are the only other team in Group G without a win so far, having also only amassed two points from a possible 15 courtesy of draws against Bulgaria and Montenegro, both of which came at home.
In the first meeting between the two teams in June, Lithuania took an early lead against Bulgaria, but a last man foul by Justas Lasickas had the Lithuanians play with 10 men for more than an hour until Marin Petkov equalised just before half time.
This will likely be the best opportunity for both teams to get their first win in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, and it would be no surprise if both teams played more offensively as they have little to lose.
Team News
Bulgaria have no major absentees and head coach Krstajic is expected to field his strongest XI.
The Lions will likely field their usual 3-4-3 formation, with captain Despodov at the centre of the attack as a centre-forward, while Lukas Petkov and Georgi Rusev provide danger out wide as wingers.
Lithuania are also injury-free and are expected to field a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Fedor Cernych and Arvydas Novikovas supporting Paulauskas up front, who has already scored half of Lithuania's goals in this qualifying campaign.
Central midfielder Gvidas Gineitis – who plays for Serie A side Torino FC - is also one of the standout players in Jankauskas's team, and although he is only 19, he is already one of the driving forces in Lithuania's midfield.
Bulgaria possible starting lineup:
Dyulgerov; Krastev, Antov, Dimitrov; Galchev, Popov, Kraev; Gruev; Petkov, Rusev, Despodov
Lithuania possible starting lineup:
Gertmonas; Lasickas, Lekiatas, Girdvainis, Beneta; Gineitis, Verbickas, Novikovas, Golubickas, Cernych; Paulauskas
We say: Bulgaria 2-1 Lithuania
Two teams that struggle to penetrate their opponents in the final third will have a chance to play each other for a long-awaited victory.
Lithuania have failed to score in any of their away games in qualifying for Euro 2024, so a win against an equally struggling Bulgarian side could still be too much to ask.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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