A real wonder goal led to the first win for a Romanian team at the European Championship finals in 24 years. After an evenly balanced opening period, Nicolae Stanciu (29th minute) curled the ball into the top corner from a good 20 metres out. Inspired by this goal, the Romanians now played boldly against the perceived favourites Ukraine and were able to add to their tally after the break with goals from Răzvan Marin (53') and Denis Drăguș (57'). Only then were Ukraine able to seize back control of the game, but the final push came too late.
UEFA EURO 2024, Group D, Matchday 1
Romania 3-0 Ukraine(1-0)
Romania: Niță – Rațiu, Drăgușin, Burcă, Bancu – M. Marin (75' Rus) – Man (62' Hagi), R. Marin, Stanciu (87' Racovițan), F. Coman (62' Mihăilă) – Drăguș (75' Pușcaș)
Ukraine: Lunin – Konoplya (72' Tymchyk), Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Zinchenko – Shaparenko (62' Yaremchuk), Stepanenko (62' Brazhko) – Tsygankov (62' Yarmolenko), Sudakov (83' Malinovskyi), Mudryk - Dovbyk
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Goals: 1-0 Staniciu (29'), 2-0 R. Marin (53'), 3-0 Drăguș (57')
Yellow cards: R. Marin / Konoplya
Spectators: 61,591