Ukraine vs North Macedonia predicted line-ups: Team news ahead of Euro 2020 fixture today

Ukraine and North Macedonia meet on Thursday with both nations looking to pick up their first points of Euro 2020 – and realistically, if they have hopes of reaching the last 16, this is a game they’ll both be aiming to win.

The situation is perhaps more perilous for North Macedonia, as they face Netherlands in their final match – a tough game to get a win from given the quality the Dutch possess.

Defeat to Austria in their opening match means an uphill battle for North Macedonia, at their first major men’s finals as an independent nation, but Ukraine also lost their opener – against Netherlands in a topsy-turvy encounter.

Andriy Yarmolenko scored a goal of the tournament contender in that clash, though it has since been eclipsed in the minds of many by one or two other strikes.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the game.

When is the game?

The match kicks off at 2pm BST on Thursday, 17 June in Bucharest.

Where can I watch it?

The game will be shown live on ITV, with a live stream available on the ITV Hub.

What is the team news?

Oleksandr Zubkov came off early in Ukraine’s defeat to Netherlands and he’s unlikely to recover in time to feature here. The big question for Andriy Shevchenko will be whether to push forward Oleksandr Zinchenko into the forward line or to start Marlos, after his ineffective showing last time out led to the sub being subbed off. There could also be a change in goal after Georhiy Bushchan’s second-half errors.

Ilija Nestorovski is out injured for North Macedonia. Any changes they make to the line-up from their first clash would be a surprise, as they went with their strongest XI.

Predicted line-ups

UKR – Trubin; Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Matvienko, Mykolenko; Malinovskiy, Sydorchuk, Shaparenko; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Zinchenko

MKD – Dimitrievski; Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu; Nikolov, Bardhi, Ademi, Elmas, Alioski; Pandev, Trajkovski

Odds

Ukraine – 5/7

Draw – 29/10

North Macedonia – 27/5

Prediction

Ukraine to find a more resolute defensive performance and pick up a potentially priceless victory. 2-1 to Ukraine.

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