Montenegro and Bulgaria will fight for the 2024 Euro Cup qualification and the battleground is Podgorica City Stadium (Podgorica).
Key Takeaways
- Montenegro is in 3rd place with 5 points in Group G
- In the last 4 matches, Bulgaria played 2 draws and lost 2 times
- Montenegro missed a great chance to be in 2nd place in the group against Serbia
Montenegro Form
Montenegro started their Euro qualifying journey against Bulgaria itself with a 1-0 victory. After missing tie chances against Serbia Montenegro managed to take a 2-1 lead to Lithuania in the 89th minute goal by Savic, but the Baltic team equalized in the 94th minute.
Out of 4 matches played by Montenegro, they won 1, drew 2, and lost 1. Montenegro won the first match against Bulgaria, then lost to Serbia by 0-2. On 17 June, they played draws against Hungary 0-0, and in the last on 7 September they played draw 2-2 against Lithuania.
Bulgaria Form
Obviously, Bulgaria kicked off their Euro qualifying journey with a 1-0 loss against Montenegro. In the last 4 matches, they can’t manage to make even a single win. After Montenegro, they were defeated by Hungary with 0-3. Then, somehow they managed to play two draws against Lithuania and Serbia 1-1.
Bulgaria has been one of the poor teams in European football for years. According to their performances, it would be fine to say they don’t have big ambition in these qualifications either. They are trying but lack victories.
Head-to-Head
Montenegro and Bulgaria have faced each other 5 times in Euro qualification. Out of 5 matches, Montenegro won 2 matches and 3 were draws. Likewise, Bulgaria can’t win any match. The first they faced head-to-head was on 7 Sep 2010 and the most recent was on 24 March 2023.
Team News
Montenegro’s forward Krstovic has announced that players know the importance of the next two matches in the qualifiers round. The team is complete and prepared, which is the most important thing, and Radulovic can count on all 27 players in the protocol.
However, the midfielder of Bulgaria Kraev said that he thinks that Montenegro is not a better team and that they somewhat undeservedly lost the first match in Razgrad. They will not let it happen again.
Key Players
Serie A superstars Mirko Vucinic and Igor Burzanovic scored for Montenegro against Hungary in a 2-1 victory. Also, former Manchester City player Stevan Jovetic is one of the key players along with twos.
On the other hand, for Bulgaria Kiril Despodov and Marin Petkov are the prime key players. Both have scored in Euro qualifying matches.
Final Thoughts
Given that Bulgaria can’t manage to even a single match and is at the last rank in group G, Montenegro holds 3rd place in the group with 1 win and 5 points. So, Montenegro will be confident to make its 2nd win improve group ranking, and strengthen Euro qualifying.
European Championship Qualification