Romania vs Ukraine

The Bayern Arena will host Monday’s first Euro 2024 action as Romania take on Ukraine in Munich. Romania topped qualifying Group I with an unbeaten record and five points ahead of group favourites Switzerland. As impressive as that was, they’ve struggled in their warm-up friendlies since, culminating in a goalless draw with minnows Liechtenstein before their flight to Germany. They’ll be keen to rediscover the form that saw them easily qualify for this tournament and their opener here will be a good enough marker to test where they’re at in terms of form and temperament.

Despite the difficulties in their home country, Ukraine continues to perform with pride and honour. They took the longer route to get here, beating Iceland in their qualifying play-off final to secure their place. A confidence-boosting 4-0 win over Moldova will have them ready for this competitive opening game against a tough opponent. Premier League fans will be familiar with plenty of names in the squad, including Oleksandr Zinchenko, Vitaliy Mykolenko and Mykhailo Mudryk, all of whom are expected to start this game.

These two nations haven’t met since 2016, so there’s no meaningful head-to-head record to go off here. Both teams will fancy their chances of at least sneaking second place in the group and progressing, but three points are needed here for that to be a reality. That could lead to a tight and tense affair, so we suggest the draw is the most likely match result, with the possibility of both teams scoring. Mykhailo Mudryk will be key to Ukraine’s attack, he’s got blistering pace and is very direct in his play, so backing him to score anytime in the game could be a solid enough bet.

See the table with our top picks below:

Also, check our predictions for the rest of Monday’s matches: Belgium vs Slovakia and Austria vs France.