Romania vs Lithuania

Bucharest’s Stadionul Steaua sets the stage for a potentially one-sided UEFA Nations League encounter between Romania and Lithuania.

Keen to secure an immediate return to League B after suffering relegation to the third tier in the last edition, Romania got their Group C2 campaign with a stellar 3-0 away win against Kosovo, continuing to build on a promising Euro 2024 journey. New manager Mircea Lucescu can be proud of his team’s performance in Pristina and will expect nothing less against Lithuania – a side the Romanians have beaten in 12 of their previous 13 H2Hs (L1). Adding to Romania’s confidence, they’ve not lost a match on home soil since the beginning of 2023 (W4, D4) despite failing to get on the scoresheet across their last two home outings. Au contraire, they thrashed Lithuania 3-0 in their only previous home meeting in the Nations League.

Though it was six years ago, the Lithuanians can only hope to avoid another catastrophe since a change of scenery looks unlikely following a disappointing 1-0 loss to Cyprus on matchday one. Stuck in League C for a fourth consecutive season, Edgaras Jankauskas’ men can turn to their decent-looking form for inspiration, with the loss against the Cypriot team acting as their only defeat in regulation time across their last five matches (W3, 1). However, the Baltic minnows have notoriously struggled in the Nations League, picking up just four wins in 20 outings since the tournament’s inception in 2018/19 (D3, L13). On a positive note, three of those four victories did come in foreign lands.