Ukraine and Albania kick off their 2024-25 UEFA Nations League campaigns with an opening fixture at epet ARENA - a neutral venue in Prague - on Saturday evening.
Both nations are in action for the first time since competing at Euro 2024 and will be seeking to gain promotion from League B Group 1 along with Georgia and Czech Republic.
Match preview
Ukraine were regarded by many as potential dark horses heading into Euro 2024, but they were eliminated at the group stage in unfortunate circumstances, exiting at the first hurdle for the third time in four appearances at the European Championship.
The Blue and Yellow picked up four points from three group matches, as did their opponents Romania, Belgium and Slovakia, but they finished rock bottom and failed to advance to the knockout rounds due to their inferior goal difference.
Serhiy Rebrov, who has only lost three of his 16 matches in charge of Ukraine since his appointment in June 2023, has kept the bulk of his senior squad together and is now tasked with turning their fortunes around in the Nations League.
Ukraine, who are still having to play away from their own country due to the ongoing war, narrowly missed out on securing promotion from League B of the 2022-23 Nations League, finishing second and just two points behind group winners Scotland despite winning three and drawing two of their six matches.
Ranked 25th in the world by FIFA, Ukraine have won six, drawn two and lost two of their 10 Nations League matches as a League B team, and they will fancy their chances of success on Saturday as they have won their last two meetings with Albania by an aggregate score of 7-2 - their last encounter was in June 2018, though.
Euro 2024 represented just the second major tournament that Albania have competed at, and despite failing to advance to the knockout rounds, they deservedly earned plenty of plaudits for their valiant performances in a 'Group of Death' alongside Croatia, holders Italy and eventual champions Spain.
Albania, the second-lowest ranked nation at Euro 2024 and currently 66th in the FIFA standings, were beaten by just one-goal margins against both Italy and Spain, either side of an action-packed 2-2 draw with Croatia.
The Red and Blacks have made progress as a nation since the arrival of Brazilian head coach Sylvinho, who has won seven, drawn four and lost five of his 16 games in charge of the Baltic nation since January 2023.
Now entering their second successive League B campaign in the Nations League, Albania are hoping to improve on their last outing in the competition when they finished third in a three-team group behind Israel and Iceland, after accumulating just two points from four matches.
Albania have only won one of their last 13 matches not to be played on home soil since the end of 2021 and have never beaten Ukraine in six previous attempts, losing five times and drawing once (2-2) away from home in a World Cup qualifier back in October 2005.
Team News
Ukraine boss Rebrov will weigh up whether to stick with Anatoliy Trubin as his first-choice goalkeeper or hand a start to Real Madrid's Andriy Lunin, who was dropped after their opening Euro 2024 match.
Thirty-four-year-old captain Andriy Yarmolenko (46) is just two goals behind Ukraine's all-time leading scorer Andriy Shevchenko (48) and is in contention to start in attack, although Viktor Tsygankov, Mykhaylo Mudryk and Artem Dovbyk could all be preferred to line up in the front three.
Arsenal's Oleksandr Zinchenko is expected to play at either left-back or in centre-midfield; should he start in midfield, Everton's Vitaliy Mykolenko will likely come in on the left side of a back four next to Illya Zabarnyi, Mykola Matviyenko and Yukhym Konoplya.
As for Albania, they will be without striker Armando Broja - on loan at Everton from Chelsea - 61-cap defender Berat Djimsiti and backup goalkeeper Elhan Kastrati due to injury.
Myrto Uzuni and Adrian Bajrami have been called up as replacements for Broja and Djimsiti respectively and both players are in contention to start after taking part in training this week.
Elseid Hysaj and Marash Kumbulla are both expected to feature in the back four, while Qazim Laci, Ylber Ramadani and Kristjan Asllani should all link arms in centre-midfield.
Ukraine possible starting lineup:
Trubin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Stepanenko, Zinchenko; Tsygankov, Sudakov, Mudryk; Dovbyk
Albania possible starting lineup:
Strakosha; Hysaj, Kumbulla, Ismajli, Mitaj; Asllani, Ramadani, Laci; N. Bajrami, Manj, Asani
We say: Ukraine 2-1 Albania
Albania showed over the summer that they are no pushovers and can frustrate the bigger nations on their day, so they have reason to be optimistic heading into Saturday's clash with Ukraine. Having said that, we feel that the Blue and Yellow will find a way to claim maximum points from a tight contest.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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