Romania started their Euro 2024 campaign with a dominant 3-0 win over Ukraine in Munich, thanks to two excellent strikes from Nicolae Stanciu and Răzvan Marin before Denis Drăguș knocked one home from a corner. Here’s how both sets of players rated.
Romania
Florin Niță – 7
The experienced Romanian goalkeeper had very little to do but was comfortable when called upon in the first half, a good, solid defensive display in both halves made it an easy afternoon’s work for Niță.
Ukraine had two shots on target but it was nothing that was going to force the 36-year-old into action.
Andrei Rațiu- 8
Romania will be remembered for winning this game comfortably but Ukraine still had a trick or two up their sleeve and Rațiu had a difficult job marking pacy winger Mykhailo Mudryk. A lot of the play was going through the Chelsea forward, but the attacks were successfully thwarted by Rațiu.
Radu Drăgușin – 8
Drăgușin was colossal in the heart of the defence for Romania winning everything that came his way and really giving his side the platform to hit Ukraine in the final third which was evident across the 90 minutes.
Embed from Getty ImagesAny crosses or tinges of threat from Ukraine were dealt with thanks to the Tottenham defender, who put himself into the shop window with that performance despite only playing nine times for Ange Postecoglou’s side since arriving in North London.
Andrei Burcă – 8
Burcă was dominant in defence alongside Drăgușin, winning everything that came his way. The unity between Burcă and Drăgușin was also evident on the stroke of half time when he won a battle against Ukraine’s Artem Dobvyk, earning plaudits from Drăgușin.
Nicușor Bancu – 7
Didn’t feature much within the game but was effective whenever he was on the ball; had a quiet afternoon compared to Rațiu.
Marius Marin – 7
Kept the link between defence and attack active with some good interceptions and was at the heartbeat of everything Romania did prior to coming off.
Florinel Coman – 7
Like the other forward players in the team, Coman was effective on the ball and gave Ukraine a lot of problems up against Zinchenko.
Dennis Man – 6
Man has earned a lot of positivity for his performances in the Serie A for Parma and his display today was no different. A really strong performance prior to coming off.
Embed from Getty ImagesNicolae Stanciu – 8
His 29th minute opener is arguably the goal of the tournament so far. While there were deficiencies in Ukraine’s defending, especially goalkeeper Andriy Lunin’s error, there was still work to do to convert the chance and he hit an absolute wonder strike with aplomb. Throughout the game he led the midfield line well.
Răzvan Marin – 8
Marin’s goal, the second for Romania, was something special too – a good first-time strike, and he did well to pounce on what looked like a lost cause at first glance. He did well to hit an accurate and powerful that whistled under Lunin.
It would have been very easy for him to stay patient and wait for an easier opportunity, but he aimed for goal at the first time of asking and duly delivered – great performance by the Empoli midfielder.
Denis Drăguș – 8
Drăguș led the line extremely well for Romania and while his goal wasn’t as easy on the eye as the other two, he took advantage of yet more vulnerability in the Ukraine backline to put the game out of sight. Led the line very well.
Substitutes
Adrián Rus – 3
George Pușcaș – 4
Ianis Hagi – 4
Valentin Mihăilă – 3
Bogdan Racovițan – 4
Ukraine
Andriy Lunin – 4
Embed from Getty ImagesUkraine’s goalkeeper had an afternoon to forget after gifting Romania the chance that led to their opener, and letting Marin’s second slide under him. The Real Madrid man will need to pick himself up ahead of their next fixture.
Yukhym Konoplya – 4
The right-back lost his player on a couple of occasions and was caught ball watching on several – not a performance that he’ll look back fondly on.
Illia Zabarnyi – 4
The Bournemouth defender, though he showed prior knowledge in Ukraine’s pre-match conference yesterday about the attacking threat posed by Romania, couldn’t fully get to grips with them today.
Mykola Matviyenko – 5
An effective defender on his day, but put in an under-par performance in Munich against the Romanians and will look to improve for their next outing on Friday.
Oleksandr Zinchenko – 5
As expected, a lot of the play was going to come through the Arsenal left-back but he failed to make the impact he hoped – he was at least productive in consoling fellow team-mates after their errors within the game.
Embed from Getty ImagesTaras Stepanenko – 5
Stepanenko, to be fair, had a few forays up the park and really looked to make things count for Ukraine – but he still picks up a relatively low mark after a poor performance overall.
Mykola Shaparenko – 5
Shaparenko looked up for it at the beginning of the match but as soon as Romania got in the groove he was caught ball-watching. He’ll look to rectify this on Friday.
Viktor Tsygankov – 5
Tsygankov had a few chances to get into the box and be effective but lost possession, one of the only positives across the game for Ukraine.
Georgiy Sudakov – 5
Was very isolated in the game with a lot of attention on Mudryk and Dovbyk, will look to have a more positive influence on the team in the remaining games of the tournament.
Mykhailo Mudryk – 6
A lot of the attacking play for Ukraine came through the Chelsea man and he looked to make a positive impact, but some solid defending from Romania meant it was a quiet afternoon for the winger.
Artem Dovbyk – 5
Embed from Getty ImagesSimilar to Mudryk – Dovbyk lit up La Liga this season with 24 goals for Atletico Madrid, the highest in the division, but was kept quiet because of a formidable defensive display from Romania.
Substitutes
Andriy Yarmolenko – 3
Ruslan Malinovskiy – 3
Roman Yaremchuk – 2
Volodymyr Brazhko – 2
Oleksandr Tymchyk – 2
Read our full match report, and reaction from the Romanian and Ukrainian sides, here on FromTheSpot.