Ukraine vs Belgium live updates: Euro 2024 match team news ...

There's a lot of Amarillo at this tournament, I've discovered. Tony Christie and/or Peter Kay presumably making a tidy sum in royalties?

Maybe it doesn't work like that any more...

Part of me wonders if Rebrov has picked this set-up after watching Belgium’s win over Romania, who defended in a 4-1-4-1. Belgium shifted into the Roberto Martinez classic 3-4-3 in attack, with Lukebakio moving inside and Castagne pushing on from right-back, and they consistently overloaded the last line.

Ukraine’s back-five should negate that overload today, but puts a lot of demand onto their counter-attacking quality. Dovbyk and Yaremchuk make for a mean front two and will really test Vertonghen and Faes.

The one change for Belgium is Trossard for Lukebakio.

It means Jeremy Doku will play off the right (where he looks quite good as a byline winger). They keep the 4-2-3-1 and are up against a 5-4-1. Ukraine played that against Germany in a pre-tournament friendly, and had very little of the ball but defended very well to draw 0-0.

I’m not a fan of writing teams off early generally, but they look like they’re playing for a point (which is fair enough).

Lots of Belgians already packed into the stand to my left.

Big cheers just now for the goalkeeper Koen Casteels when he came out for the warm-up. Kevin de Bruyne has already been out for a mooch around.

Everything building nicely.

A little while ago, the Ukraine players were looking very relaxed as they went for their pre-match stroll out on the turf while braving the elements. Head coach Serhiy Rebrov even mustered a smile as he strode through the tunnel.

Although, Zinchenko did look quite glum during that walkabout. He motioned to some of the Ukrainian supporters at one point, shrugging and shaking his head.

Based on those three big changes, it looks like Ukraine will set up completely differently today than in their other previous two Group E matches.

The introduction of another centre-back, Svatok, and a more conservative left-back, Mykolenko, suggest that they will be moving from a back four to a back five.

They also don't have any wingers in their line-up as Mudryk has been dropped for Yaremchuk who will partner Dovbyk in an old-fashioned, two-man strikeforce.

Starting XI: Casteels; Faes, Vertonghen, Theate; Castagne, Tielemans, Onana, Doku; De Bruyne, Trossard; Lukaku.

Just the one change from the Belgium side that beat Romania 2-0 as Arsenal winger Leandro Trossard has come into the starting XI for Dodi Lukebakio.

Starting XI: Trubin; Tymchyk, Zabarnyi, Svatok, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Shaparenko, Brazhko, Sudakov; Dovbyk, Yaremchuk.

A few big changes to the Ukraine starting XI, and statement ones too.

Arsenal's Oleksandr Zinchenko and Chelsea's Mykhailo Mudryk have both dropped out of the team, as has Andriy Yarmolenko.

Everton's Vitalii Mykolenko is in for his first appearance at the tournament, as is Oleksandr Svatok. Roman Yaremchuk has also come into the side.

It is unbelievably muggy in Stuttgart, with flashes of lightning ahead and the skies threatening to pour forth a deluge.

Fans are shuffling their way towards the arena from a heaving metro station. They were mixing brilliantly on the trains to the stadium, exchanging chants in the crammed carriages.

There was one particularly lengthy Ukrainian song which went on for around five minutes, bellowed by a giant of a man clad in yellow, with the Belgians retorting with a slightly simpler: "Come on Belgium, come on Belgium." Rather disappointingly in my opinion.

Supporters of Premier League clubs will see the very familiar face of Anthony Taylor in this game as he is the match referee.

He took charge of the goalless draw between France and the Netherlands on Friday evening and, unsurprisingly, it was not without controversy.

The Netherlands saw a potentially winning goal (correctly) ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check, a check that took far longer than most of the others at this tournament.

GO FURTHER

Who is Anthony Taylor? The Premier League referee coming into Euro 2024 after a testing season

Here’s one you may have noticed yourself. It was the first act of Euro 2024, it led to Albania’s goal against Italy — the fastest in the competition’s history — and it’s also used regularly by the top two in the Premier League.

Back with a vengeance, it is the old-fashioned hoof up the park at kick-off.

Aimless punts may seem like a relic of a bygone age in today’s football, largely a revolving battle between one team pressing high and the other trying to find space to play through.

But this more rudimentary approach is back in fashion.

Enjoy this brilliant breakdown from Jordan Campbell and see what you make of the kick-offs through the rest of Euro 2024.

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The retro kick-off tactic that is proving popular (and effective) at Euro 2024

Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco is under no illusions that today's game will not be an easy one for his players.

"Of course we need to be confident, normally there is no reason not to be confident but in football you can never be sure," he said. "We are sure we need a big game tomorrow because Ukraine is a big team.

"We saw several games of them, not just during the qualifiers against England, but now also games here at the Euros and before the friendly (0-0 draw) against Germany - I think they were the better team."

The Ukraine players continue to play with a great deal of responsibility on their shoulders every time they cross the white line, given matters at home.

Midfielder Serhiy Sydorchuk — who plays his club football for Belgian side Westerlo — discussed how that changes his side's outlook.

"What will it mean for the country is that we will go on with this fairytale, this really fantastic fairytale for several more days for the whole country, because we are at war for almost 900 days," Sydorchuk said.

"For the Ukrainians, every game, every event like that means a lot, it means for them that they can come back to the usual pre-war times."

The yellow-card rules at Euro 2024 stipulate that a player will be suspended for one game after receiving yellow cards in two separate matches.

As well as players, team officials will also be suspended for the next competition match after receiving two cautions, and again after a fourth caution. That means if a player picks up two yellow cards during the group stage, round of 16 and quarter-finals, they will be suspended for the semi-finals if their team advances.

Accumulated yellow cards are reset after the quarter-finals. Players can only be suspended for the Euro 2024 final by receiving a red card in the semi-final.

Here are the Ukraine and Belgium players that have been booked so far

In Group E, Romania and Slovakia won their opening matches of the tournament, while Belgium and Ukraine won the second group matches. That leaves us with a somewhat unusual points situation going into the final round of group games: 3-3-3-3.

It’s not inconceivable that the four sides in this group could all finish on four points. That’s rare, although not unprecedented — it happened at World Cup 1994, also in Group E, involving Mexico, Norway, the Republic of Ireland and eventual finalists Italy.

The curious thing is that, on the basis of the previous two 24-team European Championships, at least one side will progress as one of the best third-placed sides on just three points. Yet two draws in the last match of Group E would see a side on four points being eliminated.

It remains an outside shot, but it would be another strange feature of a slightly imperfect tournament format.

Romelu Lukaku is yet to score at Euro 2024: two games, no goals, just like at the 2022 World Cup.

But this feels very different. In Qatar, he looked out of sorts and out of condition, rushed back from injury in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Belgium’s miserable campaign. Here, he looks sharp. He has done everything but score.

Against Slovakia, he had two goals disallowed: one for offside, one for a handball by Lois Openda. He had another one ruled out against Romania, judged to be fractionally offside. It was close enough — a toe’s length — for Belgium’s supporters to howl in indignation when the automated-offside image was flashed up on the big screen.

No goals for Lukaku, then, but he set up the opener in the last game for Tielemans and was a constant threat to the Romania defence. With a little more luck, he would be well on course for the Golden Boot by now. But on this evidence, the goals will come.

You have to feel sorry for Mudryk, in some respects.

Really, he should have been a signing for a Premier League club that could have afforded to let him develop quietly, for a coach to work with on the technical and tactical aspects of his game to complement his obvious physical gifts.

Instead, he signed for Chelsea in January 2023 and a young, raw player was essentially left to complete his education in public.The generous interpretation is that he is a work in progress but one worth persisting with given his explosive pace. Until then, he will be frustrating.

But he also showed against Slovakia that he can still be a useful, if unrefined, outlet. He did not score or assist in the game, but he created the chance for the equaliser with his blistering forward run on the counter-attack.

Mudryk will remain frustrating as long as his technical issues are not ironed out, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still be a dangerous player.

This is something truly special. Our correspondents and data experts here at The Athletic pulled together our Euro 2024 edition of The Radar before the tournament started

It’s a database of the 50 players to watch at this summer’s tournament, with at least one representative from each of the 24 nations competing in Germany.

There are established stars and rising talents, bespoke data visualisation for every player and magnificent insight from our writers.

Some of those players will play no further part, but most of them are still involved — including some involved in this match.

So go give it a visit, have a play and see what you discover.

GO FURTHER

The Radar – The Athletic’s Euro 2024 scouting guide

There will be two rest days between the end of the group stage and the start of the knockout stage. The Round of 16 begins on Saturday, June 29 with two matches.

Here is a full breakdown of the knockout-stage dates:

Unfortunately, we have had to say goodbye to five teams already.

Those teams are:

Hungary could still finish as one of the four best third-place teams; that will depend on today's results.