France U21 vs Ukraine U21 tips: Les Bleus can utilize superior head-to-head record in Euros clash
- Sergiu Baltuta
- 1 July 2023
France and Ukraine will clash in the European Under-21 Championship quarter-final.
France are seen as the favourites in the quarter-final game against Ukraine.
The two teams are very familiar with each other, as they also faced each other in the qualifying group for the European Championship hosted by Romania and Georgia.
France managed a dominating 5-0 win at home, and then in the game where the team from Kiev were hosts we had another spectacular game that ended 3-3.
In the last eight head to head games, Ukraine managed to win only once, but they managed no less than four draws against the team from the Hexagon.
The team led by Sylvain Ripoll managed to win every game in the group stage. In the first two games they had some emotions, as against Italy (2-1) the French played in 10 men from the 83rd minute.
Then they managed a hard earned 1-0 win against Norway. The last game of the group was a convincing 4-1 win against Switzerland.
Since the end of May 2021, France U21s have suffered a single defeat, a 0-4 against England in March this year. On the other side it's worth adding that no less than eight of their last 10 games ended with a tight scoreline.
The young "Les Bleus" managed to win only one of the five games played in the knockout rounds at the U21 European Championship.
The Ukrainians have every reason to be confident even though the French are seen as the more valuable team.
The team led by Ruslan Rotan were extremely close of topping group A, as they managed a 2-2 against Spain in the final group game, conceding the equaliser in the 90th minute.
In the other two group games, Ukraine managed wins against Croatia (2-0) and Romania (1-0).
In total, the team from Kiev has suffered only one defeat in their last 10 games, 1-3 in a friendly game against Italy.
There is an average of almost three goals per game in their matches, with 13 goals scored in their last 5 games. It remains to be seen if Mudryk will be recovered for this game.
Chelsea's star, injured, was on the bench against Spain as well, same as he was in the previous games in the group stage.
