Ukraine vs Spain – UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifiers – Preview

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Sreya

Spain travel to Ukraine for their last game of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualification round, having already qualified for next year’s premier tournament to be held in France. Adjudged winners of Group C, Spain will take on a spirited Ukraine side which will finish in runners-up position should they win.

Team News

David Silva (Manchester City) and Alvaro Morata (Juventus) picked up injuries during Spain’s 4-0 win against Luxembourg and have been ruled out of action for a month. Sergio Ramos, Daniel Carvajal and Andres Iniesta are sidelined due to fitness concerns and Diego Costa has not been selected into the squad.

Yevhen Khacheridi and Sergey Sydorchuk will be missing for Ukraine as they serve out suspensions, while Oleksandr Kucher and Denys Garmash are the likely replacements. Taras Stepanenko is also expected to feature, having missed out the match against Macedonia.

Ukraine Possible Starting Lineup: Andriy Pyatov, Artem Fedetskiy, Oleksandr Kucher, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Vyacheslav Shevchuk, Ruslan Rotan, Taras Stepanenko, Denys Garmash, Yevhen Yarmolenko, Artem Kravets, Konoplyanka.

Spain Possible Starting Lineup: David De Gea, Mario Gasper, Nacho, Xabier Etxeita, Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago, San Jose, Isco, Juan Mata, Paco Alcacer, Nolito.

Contributor’s Pick

Spain have kept a clean sheet in their last seven matches in the European Championship, including the qualifiers, while Ukraine have kept a clean sheet in six of their last eight matches. According to Head-2-Head statistics, Ukraine have never won any of its matches against Spain till date. Vicente del Bosque’s side is expected to finish the qualifiers with another win, 2-1 being the most probable scoreline.

We have had a good qualifying campaign but we had to work hard. We must congratulate ourselves. I think we have an idea of how we want to play.

– Vicente del Bosque.