Romania’s wild celebrations as underdogs mark stunning Ukraine win with megaphone on the pitch

Romania are hardly short of supporters in Germany and they will have gained plenty more fans across Europe with this wonderfully spirited performance, which led to the wildest of celebrations. Regarded by many as the underdogs in Munich, the Romanians produced a glorious display of old-school tournament football to dismantle and then humiliate Ukraine.

They defended well, ran hard, attacked fast and twice smashed the ball into the net from range – and they did it all with less than 30 per cent of possession. They even have a right-back, Andrei Ratiu, with bright blue hair. Really, what’s not to like?

At the end, the Romanians danced on the pitch with a megaphone. In that moment, with thousands of yellow-shirted fans jumping along with them, it felt entirely appropriate. “Today I felt some feelings for the first time,” said Edward Iordanescu, their manager. “I lost control of myself. I would like to thank every Romanian, everywhere in the world.”

This was the first big shock of the European Championship and, for a brief moment in his post-match press conference, Iordanescu tried to play it all down. “I have seen this team being called all sorts of things,” he said. “Please don’t call them anything.”

And then he lost himself again. “We have had golden generations but this nation does not represent any metal,” Iordanescu beamed. “It is the generation of soul. Such a big heart, such a soul, no one has ever had that. This generation is limitless. They have done so much. They ran until they fell over.”

How it all contrasted with the misery of Ukraine. For Serhiy Rebrov’s team, who rightly have huge neutral support here amid the ongoing war with Russia, this was a defeat that posed a number of alarming questions.

One, what is the point of having lots of slow possession if you are not able to create any chances with it? Two, why did Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin endure such a terrible afternoon? And three, what exactly does Mykhailo Mudryk offer in attack?

That third question is one that has also been asked plenty of times in London, where Mudryk has struggled for any sort of consistency in a Chelsea shirt. It is evident that a skilled, quick player exists somewhere inside him, but once again there were few signs of it on the pitch. When Mudryk is in position to pass, he often shoots. When he is in position to shoot, he often passes.

Ukraine’s side is packed with impressive technicians. They all know how to take the ball under pressure and how to find a team-mate between the lines. What they lacked, though, were the more raw footballing qualities that every team requires. It was Romania who had the aggression, the energy and the intensity.

“We have the spirit,” said Iordanescu, who was applauded by the travelling Romanian press afterwards. His father, Anghel, was the last manager to take Romania to a major tournament and this was their victory at the Euros since they beat England in 2000. “This means more to me than you can imagine,” Iordanescu said.

Romania’s defensive attitude was best summarised by Radu Dragusin, their pony-tailed centre-back who plays for Tottenham Hotspur. Dragusin was in battle-mode from the off, sliding into tackles and throwing his body in front of the ball. He and his team-mates were made to defend for long spells, but they fed off the challenge.

The scoreline was a shock, obviously, although perhaps not so much in Romania. Iordanescu’s team were unbeaten in qualifying and finished above Switzerland in their group. They are no fools, as evidenced by Nicolae Stanciu’s sensational strike, scorched into the top corner, which gave them the lead in the first half after Lunin had produced a poor clearance.

Stanciu later called it the “goal of my career”, before deciding this was the moment to settle some scores with the Romanian journalists. “I felt insulted just a few days before the tournament,” he said of the coverage in his home country. “I am OK with criticism. But please don’t insult us.”

Despite Ukraine’s dominance of possession, Romania added two more after the break. Razvan Marin’s thumping effort slid under the body of Lunin, before Denis Dragus converted from close range a few minutes later. Lunin made more than 30 appearances for Madrid last season but did not look, on this evidence, like a top-level goalkeeper.

“Nobody expected this result,” said Rebrov, the former Spurs and West Ham United striker. “The players are talking among themselves in the dressing room. They asked me to leave the dressing room. Everybody has emotions. Everybody is unhappy.

“We were in control but we never created anything serious. It does not matter that we controlled the ball. And what? Football is about results.”

Stanciu stunner leads Romania to dominant victory: As it happened

04:23 PM BST

Sam’s post-match thoughts

04:20 PM BST

Ukraine downed, but not out. Reasons to be cheerful

Ukraine will need to be much better and make more of their possession and creativity against Slovakia on Friday.

But I’ll sign off on a faintly optimistic note - they lost their opener in Euro 2020, 3-2 to the Netherlands, and still went on to the quarter-finals. Nothing lost yet in the big scheme of things.

04:15 PM BST

Ukraine manager Rebrov reflects on defeat

Serhiy Rebrov is grave-faced as he fields a few questions on the telly:

04:04 PM BST

Follow Belgium v Slovakia live!

The other game in Group E gets underway at 5pm UK time, and the team news is in. Smart money has to be on Belgium.

Get all the latest with the excellent Alan Tyers.

04:01 PM BST

Possession might be nine-tenths of the law, but it’s not everything...

03:58 PM BST

Celebrations start for Romania

The Romania players form a line in front of their vociferous fans, a vast tricolour flag waving, and everyone bounces up and down. Nothing wrong with celebrating like that; as the stats suggest, they don’t get many chances.

Ianis Hagi has a loudspeaker in his hand and leads the spectators in a chant.

03:54 PM BST

Full time: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

The whistle blows, and Romania come away with only their second ever Euros win from 17 matches. Their yellow-clad players form a huddle in the middle of the field. They had the hustle, the gameplan and the finishing. That win will have surprised a few people.

Oleksandr Zinchenko departs the field, wearing a dazed expression. Andriy Lunin may have a sleepless night too, given his errors for the first and second goals.

03:52 PM BST

90 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

Yaremchuk hits the crossbar with his right-footed shot, 15 yards out. Ukraine probably do deserve a goal for all their efforts. This will be a difficult game to bounce back from.

03:49 PM BST

89 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

Romanian substitute George Puscas very nearly puts it into his own net from a corner, his flick at the front post sailing just out for another corner. Poor delivery from Mudryk and it’s tonked away. Romania are defending their goal with a sea of their yellow-clad fans right behind them. There will be some noise when the final whistle goes.

Four minutes of stoppage time shown.

03:47 PM BST

87 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

The intensity has ebbed out of the game in these closing minutes. Substitutions for both sides.

For Ukraine, Sudakov and Tsyhankov are replaced by Malinovskyi and Yarmolenko. For Romania, captain Nicolae Stanciu, who led by example and opened the scoring, comes off for Racovitan, to raucous cheers from their big contingent of supporters.

03:45 PM BST

84 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

Mykhailo Mudryk shoots over from 15 yards out after Dovbyk passed him into the left side of the box. Sums up Ukraine’s afternoon. No accuracy, but not much invention either. This defeat will sting and means their next game, against Slovakia on Friday, is a must-win.

03:42 PM BST

83 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

03:41 PM BST

81 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

Dragusin nods a header against his centre-back partner-in-crime Burca and Nita has to hustle across his goal to the left corner to stop it going in. Still no getting past this great defensive wall of Romania.

They may have only completed 165 passes to Ukraine’s 467 so far, but have been good value for this win. No messing about, creating openings, taking every opportunity and offering strong, resolute defence.

03:37 PM BST

77 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

Some more tiring legs replaced for Romania. Puscas (Genoa striker George, no relation to Hungarian great Ferenc) replaces goalscorer Dragus, Rus comes on for Marius Marin.

Sudakov shows his glittering talent, forcing Nita to dive to his left at full-stretch to deny his effort on the edge of the area. With 15 minutes to go, that’s Ukraine’s first effort on target.

03:32 PM BST

70 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

Sudakov’s free kick 25 yards out pings off Dragusin’s top-knot and out for a corner. The Tottenham Hotspur defender has been everywhere - 30 seconds later, he’s striding forward with the ball and fouled in the opponent’s half after they regain possession... then he’s back in the nick of time to slide ahead of Artem Dovbyk and nick the ball after a low cross.

03:28 PM BST

69 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

A few cheers in the Allianz Arena as a Romania free-kick from the left byline goes into the side netting. It looked to some like Lunin had spilled it into his own net for a fourth, which would have been about right for his abject performance today.

03:26 PM BST

67 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

To underline Sam’s point, Yarmolenko sends a tricky snap volley well over after a Mudryk free kick into the mixer. They’ve not fashioned clear-cut chances and have been punished. To think, Romania were expected to be one of the weaker teams in the group.

He was one of three Ukraine changes, coming on with Baremchuk and Brazhko. Stepanenko, Shaparenko and Tsyhankov were the ones subbed off. You know it’s bad when the captain gets hauled off.

03:23 PM BST

64 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

How many people would have said, before this match, that Andriy Lunin would be the weak link in the Ukrainian defence? The Ukraine goalkeeper made more than 30 appearances for Real Madrid last season but he’s been beaten three times in less than an hour here, and was at fault for two of the three goals.

This is turning into a remarkable collapse by Ukraine. Full credit to Romania. They have not had much of the ball but they have not needed much of it. Defend well, attack fast, shoot early. It’s a good strategy and it’s working for them, to spectacular effect.

03:21 PM BST

62 minutes: Romania 3 Ukraine 0

The sea of yellow in one end of the stadium are singing Radu Dragusin songs. Well, as they might: the centre-back has been a colossus. At the other end, Romania have been clinical and are 30 minutes away from only a second ever victory at the Euros.

Coman and Man go off, replaced by Hagi and Mihaila.

03:18 PM BST

GOAL! Romania 3 Ukraine 0 (Dragus, 57’)

It’s three. Romania are confident and cutting apart Ukraine now.

A rasping Ratiu shot led to a corner. They played it short, Man sent a Ukraine midfielder for a Twix with a lovely feint and his low ball was met by Denis Dragus. After a minute or two of VAR checks for offside, the goal stands.

03:14 PM BST

GOAL! Romania 2 Ukraine 0 (Răzvan Marin, 53’)

Romania go up the other end to make it two. The unmissable Ratiu drove into space in midfield, setting up Man. He was tackled after cutting inside on the edge of the box, but Marin instinctually struck the ball into the bottom-left corner from 20 yards out.

He hit it early, but Ukraine goalkeeper Lunin needs to be doing better with that. Straight through his hands.

03:11 PM BST

51 minutes: Romania 1 Ukraine 0

Sudakov surges forward, holding onto the ball for a few ticks too long, missing Dovbyk’s run and turning away from support. The ball pings out for a corner, Mudryk gets it back, drives into the box but he can only find another outstretched Romanian leg with his cross-shot.

03:09 PM BST

49 minutes: Romania 1 Ukraine 0

The blue shirts of Ukraine are massing around the Romania area, trying to find a way through. Sudakov gets impatient and belts the ball well over the bar from 25 yards. Edward Iordanescu - Romania manager and Alec Baldwin lookalike - would be delighted to limit them to longshot chances like that.

03:06 PM BST

47 minutes: Romania 1 Ukraine 0

No changes at half-time for either side, but Serhiy Rebrov will have responded to how Romania set up and will look to galvanise his Ukraine team, with some fresh ideas. They need to start his second half like they mean to go on - strongly, with attacking purpose.

03:02 PM BST

Some choice stats from the first half

-Ukraine have completed 302 passes to Romania’s 102.

-Ukraine have enjoyed 66% possession, but they’ve not managed to test Florian Nita yet.

-There have been no offsides in the match yet, a rarity for an international tournament match, especially given Ukraine’s pacy attackers.

02:58 PM BST

Ukraine could bounce back, exploiting space and tiring opponents

A disappointing first-half performance by Ukraine but they could absolutely turn this around quickly. It’s a scorching day in Munich, and it feels like it is getting hotter by the second. Romania are chasing the ball a lot, working hard to keep their shape, and it must be tiring work. More gaps will open up in the second half.

Meanwhile, it is worth nothing this from earlier: a stand from Kharkiv’s Sonyachny Stadium has been brought to the centre of Munich. It was originally built by Ukraine for Euro 2012, but was destroyed by Russian forces in May 2022. The Ukraine FA has transported the stand across Europe to show the world that “even football suffers under war”.

02:54 PM BST

Here’s what the Romania fans made of that Stanciu stunner

02:50 PM BST

Half-time: Romania 1 Ukraine 0

After two minutes of stoppage time, Romania head into the break a goal to the good. Nicolae Stanciu offered the game’s outstanding moment so far, taking full advantage of a poor Lunin pass. They soaked up plenty of Ukraine pressure in the first 20 minutes and ended up the stronger of the two sides.

Mudryk, Dovbyk, Sudakov and Tsyhankov have been kept quiet so far by their well-marshalled defence.

02:47 PM BST

45 mins: Romania 1 Ukraine 0

Nicolae Stanciu is the Romania captain and is widely regarded as their star man. You can see why. That was a fabulous finish on the edge of the box.

You would not say the goal was coming for Romania but they punished the first significant error that Ukraine have made. A shocker for Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, and he knows it. Zinchenko went straight to him after the goal and had a word in his ear.

Plenty of time for Ukraine to come back into this and they certainly have the players to do so. They are the superior technical team. But they need to start creating some clear chances at one point.

02:45 PM BST

43 mins: Romania 1 Ukraine 0

Artem Dovbyk is fed into the area by Mudryk on the left, but burly centre-back Burca pushes him off the ball and it rolls out for a goal kick. He and Dragusin celebrated that defensive interaction like it’s a penalty win. They’re keeping their shape and using strength to deny Ukraine a decent chance.

There’s a pause in play for a clash of heads between Ukraine captain Stepanenko and Marius Marin.

02:41 PM BST

39 mins: Romania 1 Ukraine 0

Oof, Romania come close again. Man’s curving effort bounces off a Ukrainian knee and just past the front post. From the corner, Stanciu shaves the crossbar, nearly curving it straight in. Lunin was in no man’s land, expecting a different ball in, and missed it completely after back-pedalling.

02:38 PM BST

37 mins: Romania 1 Ukraine 0

Dragusin heads athletically over his own bar from a questioning Mudryk cross. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for that one. The Chelsea midfielder smashes a volley from an acute angle after a bit of pinball in the box, but it hits his teammate in the midriff and Ukraine lose possession.

02:36 PM BST

34 minutes: Romania 1 Ukraine 0

Slightly against the run of play, but that was clinical from Stanciu. The veteran was a joint top scorer in qualifying for Romania, with three goals, and plies his trade for Damac FC in Saudi Arabia.

Romania are buoyant now, forcing a corner and continuing to harry Ukraine into mistakes. They are the team making the running since that opening goal.

02:32 PM BST

GOAL! Romania 1 Ukraine 0 - Stanciu (29’)

What a goal from Romania’s captain. They were pressing and hassling Ukraine’s mdefence hard as they passed it back to Lunin, who played it straight to a lurking Romanian. He fed Stanciu, who had a lot to do, curling it into the top-left corner from 25 yards out.

02:25 PM BST

Zinchenko showing his full arsenal

Oleksandr Zinchenko has played some lovely passes in these first 20 minutes. He’s playing at left-back today, rather than in midfield as he often does for his country, and he has already squeezed some of his trademark passes through the lines here.

It’s quite clear that Ukraine are the more comfortable team in possession, but that is no guarantee of success. They are yet to create a significant chance, despite their composure on the ball.

02:24 PM BST

23 minutes: Romania 0 Ukraine 0

Ukraine’s right-back Yukhym Konoplya finds some space on the wing and Burca dumps it out for the first corner of the game. It gets headed away, but the ball pinballs back to Dovbyk, who fires over.

02:21 PM BST

20 minutes: Romania 0 Ukraine 0

02:19 PM BST

17 minutes: Romania 0 Ukraine 0

In a rare foray forward into space for Romania, Coman cuts in from the left. Captain Stanciu tries to set up Dragus but he has his pocket picked by Ukraine’s centre-back and Oleksandr Zinchenko can regroup for Ukraine. They’re looking to use their pace to punish Romania.

No clear-cut chances yet for either side, but plenty of promise.

02:15 PM BST

13 minutes: Romania 0 Ukraine 0

Romanian right-back Andrei Ratiu catches the eye at right-back for more than his defending - his hair is dyed electric blue. The spirit of the Romania 1998 World Cup squad clearly lives on; they all went bleach blond after placing a bet with their coach that they could do that if they got six points from their first two group games. Their poor manager had to shave his head to keep up his end of the bargain.

02:11 PM BST

8 minutes: Romania 0 Ukraine 0

Ukraine are having the best of the possession, a lot going through Mudryk on the left flank. However, they give the ball away cheaply and Romania break.

Taking Dragus’ pass from the right wing, Florinel Coman wallops an effort from 25 yards out, but it’s straight at Andriy Lunin, the Real Madrid goalkeeper.

02:07 PM BST

Making a din in Munich

As you would expect, given the situation in Ukraine, more Romanian supporters have been able to make the journey to Munich than those from Ukraine. Romania therefore dominated the pre-match anthem battle. It’s very, very loud in here.

02:06 PM BST

4 minutes: Romania 0 Ukraine 0

Artem Dovbyk is almost set free down the left, avoiding the Romania offside trap, but he can’t bring the through-ball under control and the ball sails into Nita’s arms.

The Girona striker has scored in the country’s last two international matches, a 3-1 defeat away to Poland and 4-0 victory over Moldova. Can he make it three on the spin here?

02:03 PM BST

2 minutes: Romania 0 Ukraine 0

Ukraine are on the front foot immediately, with Mykhailo Mudryk sailing past a couple of Romania players, cutting inside a couple of times. He can’t get away a shot from the edge of the box, but that’s a double espresso of a start.

02:01 PM BST

Kick off!

Taras Stepanenko and Nicolae Stanciu exchange pendants, the teams have their pre-match huddles and Ukraine - in blue - kick off. Away we go!

01:57 PM BST

The teams are out

The Romania and Ukraine sides walk out into the sunshine at the Allianz Arena.

The Ukraine players are draped in their national flags and their national anthem reverberates around the cavernous stadium. It’s an emotional moment, given the fighting going on back home. Their Euro 2024 campaign can give hope and inspiration for those back home.

01:55 PM BST

The atmosphere is hotting up in Munich

01:48 PM BST

Enter Drăgușin, dynamic defender

Romania’s 22-year-old centre-back Radu Drăgușin is one of their talismen, part of a back line which only conceded five goals during qualifying.

Good in the air, he was a benchwarmer for most of his season at Tottenham Hotspur, though he partnered Cristian Romero in a couple of their final Premier League matches. The top-knot sporting defender will need to be on top of his game. It will suit him, and his teammates, to drag Ukraine into a messy, physical affair.

By the way, those team-mates include Ianis Hagi, son of the legendary Gheorge. The Rangers midfielder is on the bench today, after a so-so season spent chiefly on loan at Alaves.

01:37 PM BST

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01:35 PM BST

Who are the pre-match favourites?

Ukraine are backed by Opta’s supercomputer to defeat Romania, winning 42.6% of pre-match simulations.

Historically, the furthest both teams have gone at this tournament is the quarter-final stage, which Romania reached in 2000. Ukraine made it there in 2020.

They’re 100-1 outsiders for the tournament, with Romania back in the long grass at 400-1. You’d need to be a brave punter to lump on either.

01:32 PM BST

Clash of the yellow-and-blues

Good afternoon from a sunny and increasingly sweaty Munich, where yellow is very much the day’s dominant colour. It’s Romania v Ukraine and it has the potential to be an excellent match.

It is a profitable time to be a face-painter in these parts, with Ukraine and Romania fans both queuing up outside the ground for the same yellow and blue brushes (although the Romanians, as any flag expert would know, also want a splash of red).

What to expect from this clash? Well, Ukraine are a good team, with a collection of stars in Europe’s biggest leagues, and the Romanians are probably better than you think. They qualified in impressive fashion, finishing ahead of Switzerland in their group and avoiding defeat in all 10 of their matches.

For Romania, a fun fact: their manager is Edward Iordănescu, who is the first coach to take the national side to a major tournament since his father, Anghel Iordănescu, in Euro 2016.

Given the ongoing situation in Ukraine, where the horrifying war with Russia continues, Serhiy Rebrov’s side will be well-supported by neutrals during this tournament. The team has been in contact with soldiers on the front line, who have asked the players to demonstrate the “spirit of Ukraine” this summer.

Of course, Ukraine’s presence at this tournament is a reminder that football is not as serious and important as many of us like to believe. “Now in our country, football is not in first place,” said Rebrov. “There are lots of people dead, lots of kids dead. Now is a very difficult time for Ukraine.”

01:26 PM BST

Sudakov catches the eye in Ukraine’s front line

Artem Dovbyk starts up top for Ukraine, having been top goalscorer in La Liga during an astonishing season for Girona. He will take some stopping, especially with supply, speed and trickery from Mudryk and Georgiy Sudakov in abundance behind him.

Shaktar Donetsk attacker Sudakov has had a breakthrough year, starring in their shock Champions League defeat of Real Madrid. He is tipped for a lucrative move to the Premier League, with several big-money suitors.

Sudakov spoke to our Matt Law in an in-depth interview, explaining that many soldiers wrote to him and thanked him for their victories in qualification.

“I am sure that our victories can be a break from all the grief that our people are feeling,” the 21-year-old added. “We’re hoping to bring as many positive results as possible.”

01:18 PM BST

Here are today’s line-ups

Romania XI 
(4-1-4-1 likely):
Niță; Rațiu, Drăgușin, M. Marin, Burcă; Bancu; Man, R. Marin, Stanciu (c), Coman; Drăguș

Subs: Moldovan, Tarnovanu, Rus, Nedelcearu, Alibec, Cicaldau, Puscas, Hagi, Mihaila, Olaru, Mogos, Sorescu, Racovitan, Birligeau, Sut

Ukraine XI
(4-2-3-1 likely):
Lunin; Konoplia, Zinchenko, Matviyenko, Zabarnyi; Stepanenko (c), Shaparenko; Mudyrk, Sudakov, Tsygankov; Dovbyk

Subs: Bushchan, Trubin, Svatok, Talovierov, Sydorchuk, Yarmolenko, Malinovskyi, Yaremchuk, V. Mykolenko, Brazkho, Yubkov, Bondar, Tymchyk, Vanat, Mykhailichenko

01:01 PM BST

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12:58 PM BST

Group E gets underway...

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the eighth match of Euro 2024, as Romania face Ukraine in Munich.

With Belgium facing Slovakia at 6pm local time, it will likely be a tussle to see who can finish behind Belgium and qualify automatically.

Romania, ranked 46th in the world, went unbeaten through qualifying, topping their group and finishing ahead of Switzerland, with six wins and four draws.

However, their recent form is inauspicious: they have not won in four matches, their most recent results being goalless draws at home to Bulgaria and Liechtenstein, giving the minnows their first clean sheet in 36 games. Hardly the stuff to inspire confidence in the Tricolorii’s ability to break down sterner opposition.

This is their first time at a major international tournament since the 2016 Euros. Their win ratio in this competition – one in 16 matches – is the lowest of any side to have completed more than one tournament. Memorably, that lone victory came in 2000, as Ioan Ganea slotted home an 89th minute penalty after a sloppy Phil Neville foul to seal a 3-2 triumph and send a star-studded England squad packing.

Ukraine, 22nd in the FIFA rankings, had a far more dramatic passage to this tournament than their neighbours. They did it the hard way after finishing third in their group, behind England and on the same points as Italy. Subsequently, they came through play-off qualifying games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland to make it four consecutive Euro tournaments in a row.

A fair few neutrals will likely be rooting for Ukraine, given the geopolitical situation the country finds itself in.

The squad possesses plenty of firepower and there is a fair bit of Premier League interest too, not least captain Andriy Yarmolenko of Everton and Chelsea’s £62m left winger Mykhailo Mudryk. And of course, their manager is also ex-Tottenham Hotspur striker Serhiy Rebrov.

If the creaking Belgium team underperforms, they will be favourites to cause an upset and top the group. (Domenico Tedesco’s players kick off their campaign against fellow Group E competitors Slovakia this afternoon in Frankfurt.)

Teams news to come shortly for Romania vs Ukraine. Kick off at the Munich Arena is 2pm UK time.