Ukraine earn their first win at Euro 2020 as they hold on to beat tournament debutants North Macedonia in Bucharest.
Having fought back from two goals down before ultimately losing 3-2 to the Netherlands on Sunday, Andriy Shevchenko’s side ended a run of six successive European Championship defeats to remain in contention in Group C.
Captain Andriy Yarmolenko capitalised on poor defending from a corner after 28 minutes, before the West Ham forward’s pass set up Roman Yaremchuk, who slotted neatly into the bottom corner five minutes later.
Leeds United’s Ezgjan Alioski followed up his own saved penalty to hand a much-improved North Macedonia a second-half lifeline, but they could not find an equaliser despite goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski saving Ruslan Malinovskiy’s penalty in the closing stages.
Ukraine were one defeat away from recording the longest losing streak in the competition’s history and, having been the first side to be eliminated at Euro 2016, they made their early dominance count to avoid a similar fate in a lively contest.
Dimitrievski turned away a fierce shot from Malinovskiy and Stefan Ristovski produce a fine sliding challenge to stop Yaremchuk before Yarmolenko’s deserved breakthrough.
Napoli forward Eljif Elmas, 21, hit the side-netting from close range with a rare first-half chance for the Macedonians, while veteran striker Goran Pandev had a well-taken goal ruled out for offside before half-time.
Igor Angelovski’s side, the lowest-ranked at Euro 2020, rallied after the restart and Arijan Ademi forced a fine save from Georgiy Bushchan before Oleksandr Karavaev conceded Alioski’s spot-kick for fouling Pandev.
After Viktor Tsygankov had spurned a glorious chance, Ukraine were handed another opportunity to seal victory when Daniel Avramovski was penalised for handball in the box – but Dimitrievski’s fine save kept the game in the balance.
After their first appearance at a major tournament ended in a 3-1 defeat by Austria, North Macedonia will be eliminated if the Netherlands avoid defeat against Austria later on Thursday (20:00 BST).
What’s next?
Ukraine meet Austria and North Macedonia face the Netherlands in the final round of Group C games, with both matches taking place on Monday at 17:00.
Ukraine
-
Squad number7Player nameYarmolenkoAverage rating
7.06
-
Squad number9Player nameYaremchukAverage rating
6.58
-
Squad number17Player nameZinchenkoAverage rating
6.48
-
Squad number1Player nameBushchanAverage rating
5.96
-
Squad number8Player nameMalinovskiyAverage rating
5.79
-
Squad number21Player nameKaravaevAverage rating
5.52
-
Squad number16Player nameMykolenkoAverage rating
5.44
-
Squad number6Player nameStepanenkoAverage rating
5.40
-
Squad number22Player nameMatvienkoAverage rating
5.27
-
Squad number13Player nameZabarnyiAverage rating
5.22
-
Squad number10Player nameShaparenkoAverage rating
5.22
-
Squad number2Player nameSobolAverage rating
4.53
-
Squad number19Player nameBesedinAverage rating
4.44
-
Squad number15Player nameTsygankovAverage rating
4.36
-
Squad number5Player nameSydorchukAverage rating
4.08
North Macedonia
-
Squad number8Player nameAlioskiAverage rating
8.32
-
Squad number10Player namePandevAverage rating
6.92
-
Squad number7Player nameTrichkovskiAverage rating
6.45
-
Squad number1Player nameDimitrievskiAverage rating
6.40
-
Squad number24Player nameAvramovskiAverage rating
6.19
-
Squad number4Player nameRistevskiAverage rating
6.16
-
Squad number17Player nameBardhiAverage rating
5.98
-
Squad number21Player nameElmasAverage rating
5.90
-
Squad number9Player nameTrajkovskiAverage rating
5.89
-
Squad number5Player nameAdemiAverage rating
5.86
-
Squad number6Player nameMusliuAverage rating
5.85
-
Squad number16Player nameNikolovAverage rating
5.77
-
Squad number25Player nameChurlinovAverage rating
5.71
-
Squad number20Player nameSpirovskiAverage rating
5.67
-
Squad number13Player nameRistovskiAverage rating
5.45
-
Squad number14Player nameVelkovskiAverage rating
5.44
Line-ups
Ukraine
Formation 4-3-3
- 1Bushchan
- 21Karavaev
- 13Zabarnyi
- 22Matvienko
- 16Mykolenko
- 10ShaparenkoBooked at 43minsSubstituted forSydorchukat 78’minutes
- 6Stepanenko
- 17Zinchenko
- 7YarmolenkoSubstituted forTsygankovat 70’minutes
- 9YaremchukSubstituted forBesedinat 70’minutes
- 8MalinovskiySubstituted forSobolat 90+2’minutes
Substitutes
- 2Sobol
- 3Sudakov
- 4Kryvtsov
- 5Sydorchuk
- 11Marlos
- 12Pyatov
- 14Makarenko
- 15Tsygankov
- 19Besedin
- 23Trubin
- 24Tymchyk
- 26Dovbyk
North Macedonia
Formation 3-5-2
- 1Dimitrievski
- 13Ristovski
- 14VelkovskiBooked at 59minsSubstituted forTrichkovskiat 85’minutes
- 6Musliu
- 16NikolovSubstituted forTrajkovskiat 45’minutes
- 5AdemiSubstituted forRistevskiat 85’minutes
- 20SpirovskiSubstituted forChurlinovat 45’minutes
- 17BardhiSubstituted forAvramovskiat 77’minutesBooked at 83mins
- 8Alioski
- 10Pandev
- 21Elmas
Substitutes
- 2Bejtulai
- 4Ristevski
- 7Trichkovski
- 9Trajkovski
- 11Hasani
- 12Jankov
- 15Kostadinov
- 22Siskovski
- 23Radeski
- 24Avramovski
- 25Churlinov
- 26Ristovski
- Referee:
- Fernando Rapallini
- Attendance:
- 10,001
Live Text
Match ends, Ukraine 2, North Macedonia 1.
Full Time