Romania welcome Lithuania to the home of FCSB in Bucharest for a UEFA Nations League clash on Monday night.
The hosts made the perfect start to the campaign, dispatching second-seeds Kosovo convincingly away from home, while Lithuania were disappointingly beaten at home by Cyprus.
Match preview
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Coming into the Nations League campaign as the highest-ranked nation in League C, Romania were resounding favourites to top this section, and their matchday one victory suggests they are well on course to do so.
A 3-0 win in Pristina against a Kosovo side that does not often lose on home soil was a very pleasing sight for new manager Mircea Lucescu, who is back at the Romanian helm 43 years after his first stint.
Kosovo are likely to be their closest challengers, so that result may have big implications for the make-up of this group already, because Lithuania and Cyprus should not provide too much trouble for a side that reached the knockout stages of Euro 2024.
Romania topped a group containing Belgium in Germany, and even though they came up short against the Netherlands in the last 16, it was the furthest they have gotten at a major finals in almost a quarter of a century.
Edward Iordanescu departed after the Tricolorii's elimination, but in Lucescu, Romania have a legendary manager capable of taking them further.
The home side are also huge favourites to make it two wins from two when Lithuania visit the capital, as the gulf between the two nations is illustrated by the fact Romania have won 12 of their 13 previous encounters with their upcoming opponents.
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Lithuania have been ever-present in League C since the Nations League's inception, but they have had a few close shaves with relegation.
After losing all six games in the first iteration, Lithuania were spared relegation due to the competition's restructuring, and they then had to win a two-legged playoff against Gibraltar to avoid dropping into League D back in March.
A bottom-placed finish looks likely again though after losing their opening group game at home to Cyprus, and with no obvious candidate elsewhere to drop down into League D across the third tier, Lithuania could be in big trouble this time.
Friday's defeat was slightly surprising considering it came off the back of a decent Euro 2024 qualifying campaign which saw Lithuania beat Bulgaria and hold Hungary and Montenegro to draws.
Edgaras Jankauskas now has his work cut out if he wants to avoid finishing bottom of a Nations League group again, especially given the quality of the other two sides in the group.
Team News
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Despite Lucescu coming in, there is very little change to the Romania squad that featured at Euro 2024 under Iordanescu.
Parma duo Dennis Man and Valentin Mihaila look like they are now the favoured pair out wide, replacing Florinel Coman, who has moved to the Middle East, and Ianis Hagi, a player getting no game time at Rangers.
Horatiu Moldovan's withdrawal due to injury means veteran goalkeeper Florin Nita is set to feature yet again, like he did at the Euros and in Friday's win in Kosovo.
Jankauskas's decision to leave out Arvydas Novikovas and Fedor Cernych, two players with 189 caps between them, has seemingly backfired following that disappointing defeat to Cyprus.
Lithuania looked feeble in attack, and a rather cautious 5-4-1 setup did little to help that, but facing a side much superior to them may see the manager stick with the same system.
The visitors are missing some important players, with Paulius Golubickas and Gvidas Gineitis missing in the engine room, and Edgaras Utkus ruled out at the back.
Romania possible starting lineup:
Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Burca, Bancu; M. Marin, R. Marin, Stanciu; Man, Dragus, Mihaila
Lithuania possible starting lineup:
Gertmonas; Sirvys, Kazukolovas, Girdvainis, Tutyskinas, Lasickas; Slivka, Vorobjovas, Matulevicius, V. Paulauskas; Kucys
We say: Romania 3-0 Lithuania
Romania were famed more for their defensive solidity under Iordanescu, but it was their attacking play that caught the eye in Pristina, and Lithuania could face a similar wrath here.
The visitors slumped to a poor home defeat to open the campaign and there is nothing to suggest they can spring a huge surprise here to lift themselves off the bottom of the standings.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
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