Romania 3-0 Ukraine: Stanciu stunner the highlight as Iordănescu’s side impress in EURO2024 opener

Edward Iordănescu’s Romania showed exactly why they are in contention to progress from Group E in their opening clash with Ukraine. Despite being more than twenty places below Serhiy Rebrov’s side in the FIFA world rankings, victory was comfortable for Romania in Munich.

Ukraine’s early dominance of the ball meant little against a stoic Romanian defence and they were made to pay in the 29th minute. An Andriy Lunin error resulted in a stunning curled finish from Nicolae Stanciu to open the scoring, before Răzvan Marin and Denis Drăguș added to the tally in the second half. Romania’s pace on the counter attack and impressive defensive solidarity were the undoing of a Ukrainian side who lacked urgency, and will need to improve to escape Group E.

As it happened

Ukraine made a bright start to the game, catching Romania with only three defenders back in the opening minute. Mykhailo Mudryk looked to capitalise but couldn’t quite get a shot away from the edge of Romania’s box. The contest quickly fell into a pattern of Ukraine dominating possession, Mudryk and Artem Dovbyk acting as target men at the top; the linkup between Georgiy Sudakov and Mudryk looked the most likely source of an opener. Romania, meanwhile, looked a threat on the counter. Ukrainian defender Ilia Zabarnyi had spoken of their opponents’ pace in a pre-match press conference and he was proven right by wingers Dennis Man and Coman, who were their team’s best outlets by far in the opening stages. Though Ukraine dominated the ball and had far more time around their opponents’ box, Romania were dangerous on the break and keeper Andriy Lunin was called into action a couple of times to save long-range efforts or collect crosses.

Ukraine were taught a lesson, though, that possession doesn’t show on the scoreboard. Romania’s pace and pressure paid off after 29 minutes – Lunin, who had proved solid in net so far, inadvertently sent a routine goalkick to Man. Romania were by far the quicker to react to the error, with the Ukrainian defence caught the wrong side of their opponents; Man laid the ball in to Nicolae Stanciu who had an obstructed path to slam it first time into the top corner, leaving Lunin no chance. It was a moment to forget for the Real Madrid keeper, but that error takes nothing from Stanciu’s extraordinarily cool-headed finish.

The goal blew the last fifteen minutes of the half wide open; Edward Iordănescu’s side played with a renewed confidence in the minutes after their opener, but were still given cause for concern as Ukraine looked to level the playing field before halftime. Radu Drăgușin drew a few gasps when he was forced to head behind for a corner and came worryingly close to his own net; moments later, Mudryk whistled the ball across the penalty area with too much power for his compatriots to turn it in. Immediately though there was action at the other end of the patch – Stanciu came close to a first-half brace with a direct, curling corner that Lunin leaped for and missed, but the woodwork saved. Ukraine were clearly shaken by the scoreline, which belied their early dominance; despite more than 70% possession in the first half, they had not one shot on target). Three of their four shots were blocked, a testament to the Romanian defence – Ukraine would not have an easy task in catching up with even the narrow one-goal lead, faced with the likes of Drăgușin and Andrei Burcă.

It didn’t take Romania long to show they had no intent of sitting in to defend their lead, and every intention of extending it. They looked dangerous from the moment play resumed, Coman dancing about on the edge of the box before unleashing a strike that ended up travelling harmlessly across the goal. It took less than ten minutes for them to make Ukraine pay again for defensive laxity. From right in the heart of their own defence, Rațiu’s storming run took the ball all the way up the pitch before laying it off to Man in the danger zone on the edge of the box. He was swiftly tackled but again, the Ukrainian back line was caught napping and this time it Răzvan Marin who pounced on the resulting loose ball, thundering it home with a first time strike that whizzed under Lunin and nestled in the bottom corner.

At this point Ukraine were in shock and Romania were rampant. A third goal swiftly followed: a well-worked short corner eventually saw Man lay the ball through was eventually laid through Dovbyk’s legs and tapped home by Denis Drăguș, whose marker was firmly the wrong side of him. It was far too easy for Romania to pick out their attackers in the Ukrainian box; seeing that his team needed an injection of energy, Serhiy Rebrov made a triple change. Mykola Shaparenko made way for striker Roman Yaremchuk in a distinctly attacking change, while Volodymyr Brazhko and Andriy Yarmolenko replaced Taras Stepanenko and Tsygankov. Edward Iorandescu shook up his side with the introduction of Ianis Hagi and Valentin Mihăilă for double-assister Man and Coman.

With twenty minutes remaining, Ukraine needed a goal – fast – to have any hope of salvaging a point. They were throwing all they could at the game, but it a massive credit to Romania’s defence that nothing could penetrate; plenty of balls were floated in by Mudryk to no avail, as the back line remained solid. Ukraine’s first attempt on target didn’t come until the 76th minute courtesy of Sudakov – an excellent save by Florin Niță’s denied him and delighted the sea of yellow-clad Romanian fans behind the goal.

Mudryk, by the 83rd minute, looked by far his team’s best hope of at least a consolation goal – but even he was unable to hit the target, despite being the only one who seemed able to beat the Romanian defenders. One run down the left saw him the right side of the defence but ended in a poor strike. Roman Yaremchuk came close in stoppage time – it was far too late to make a difference but even so it bounced disappointingly off the crossbar.

The referee’s whistle was met with furious roars from Romanian supporters as their squad poured off the bench to celebrate their biggest ever Euros victory, while Ukraine’s looked on in disappointment. It was a striking statement of intent from the second-lowest-ranked team in the group, as they showed one of the qualifying spots is theirs to lose.

Follow all the action from EURO2024 here on FromTheSpot.

The lineups

ROM: Niță; Rațiu, Drăgușin, Burcă, Bancu; Man, R. Marin, M. Marin, Stanciu, Coman; Drăguș.

UKR: Lunin; Konoplia, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Zinchenko; Stepanenko, Shaparenko; Tsygankov, Sudakov, Mudryk; Dovbyk.