Spain vs Ukraine Prediction - A Very Important Match For Both Sides

Next Friday, 27th of March 2015, the former World champions, Spain, will entertain Ukraine at the historical Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan for round 5 of Euro 2016 Qualifiers, on a match of the utmost importance for both sides, who currently share the second place of Group C, three points behind the surprising leaders, Slovakia.

It is fair to say that the current Spain of Vicente Del Bosque is miles away from what they were two or three years ago. Their game became more predictable and the late renovation of the team caused them a major upset during the World Cup last Summer. In fact, La Roja’s overall performance at Brazil last year was particularly mediocre and, due to that, they have somewhat lost the “respect” of the majority of their opponents.

After a painful defeat at the hands of Slovakia on the second match of the Euro 2016 Qualifiers, Spain managed to bounce back and secured two consecutive wins, the first against Luxembourg and one month later over a fragilized Belarus at home. Nevertheless, the Spanish Armada was unable to extend their winning streak during their friendly match against the current World champions, Germany, and ended up by being defeated 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Toni Kroos.

The upcoming clash against Ukraine will certainly not be easy for La Roja but they will surely do everything within their reach to erase the poor image they have made of themselves during some of their recent matches.

As for the Ukraine, the violent civil war that has been sweeping the country during the last months has also left some deep and open wounds in the National Team but Mykhailo Fomenko’s staff are certainly doing their best to give the players the peace of mind they need to approach the important Euro 2016 Qualifiers matches.

After a surprising home defeat against Jan Kozak’s Slovakia, the Ukraine managed to put themselves back together and clinched three consecutive wins for their respecting qualifying matches. Led by the talent of Andrey Yarmolenko and the mastery of Yevhen Konoplyanka, the Eastern European team overcame Belarus, Macedonia and Luxembourg and reached Spain in the second place of their group.

Despite their less impressive recent performances, the former World champions of Spain are favourites to claim next Friday’s match.

Spain

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - LWWLW

Ukraine

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - DWWWL

Possible Line-ups

Spain(4-3-3) - De Gea - Carvajal - Sergio Ramos - Piqué - Bernat - Cesc Fabregas - Iniesta - Isco - Koke - Cazorla - Diego Costa

Ukraine (4-4-2) – Pyatov - Fedetskyi - Khacheridi - Rakytskiy - Shevchuk - Sydorchuk - Tymoschuk - Konoplyanka - Gusev - Yarmolenko - Zozulya

Injury List / Suspended Players

Spain

Diego Costa (inj) - (in doubt)

Ukraine

None

Head-to-head matches:

Top Players:

Spain

Cesc Fabregas

Diego Costa

Iniesta

Ukraine

Andrey Yarmolenko

Yevhen Konoplyanka

Anatoliy Tymoshchuk

Predictable Goal Scorers:

Spain

1. Diego Costa
2. Cesc Fabregas
3. Isco

Ukraine

1. Andrey Yarmolenko
2. Yevhen Konoplyanka
3. Roman Zozulya

Half-Time Score

Spain1 Ukraine 0

Full-Time Score

Spain 2 Ukraine 1