Ukraine hold on to beat North Macedonia 2-1 in EURO 2020 group stage match

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

ANKARA (AA) - Ukraine on Thursday beat North Macedonia 2-1 in the hard-fought second game of EURO 2020 Group C.

Facing off at Bucharest’s National Arena, both teams were looking for their first win in the Euro 2020 group stage.

Ukraine seemed more effective at the beginning of the game, with Andriy Yarmolenko breaking the deadlock by poking the ball in following Ukraine's corner kick in the 29th minute.

Ukrainians continued on pace, as their second goal of the game came from striker Roman Yaremchuk beating the offside trap with an excellently timed run and scoring one-on-one with North Macedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski in the 34th minute.

The first half ended 2-0 in Ukraine’s favor, but in the second half, North Macedonia reasserted itself.

Their effort paid off when left back Ezgjan Alioski finished the rebound of his own penalty kick in the 57th minute.

Ukraine fought a hard battle to keep the lead until the 84th minute when they missed the chance to relax as Ruslan Malinovskyi's penalty was saved by Dimitrievski.

Despite North Macedonia's efforts, the match ended with Ukraine on top 2-1.

Ukraine had their first win in the group stage and took third place in Group C for now, behind the Netherlands and Austria.