Montenegro, who are chasing a place at Euro 2024, will face Group G rivals Bulgaria this Sunday at the City Stadium in Podgorica. Despite the visitors being behind on points and at the bottom of the five-team group stage, Montenegro are expected to win this weekend's game and move up into the top two.
Montenegro lost only to their neighbors in their first four European Championship qualifiers. They still have a chance of securing a ticket to Germany for the European soccer championships next summer. A draw with Hungary and a win against Bulgaria saw the tiny nation enter this month's international window with four points from three games. They finally added to their tally against Lithuania on Thursday, despite only equalizing in the last 15 minutes.
In the last 15 minutes of the game, Montenegro equalized through a goal from Lecce striker Nikola Kristovic. Stefan Savic then scored what looked like the decisive winning goal on 89 minutes. However, they conceded again in injury time, leaving the team, led by Miodrag Radulovic, helpless, as a win would have put them in a tie with Serbia, who are second in the table.
Due to last minute mistakes, Montenegro has now won only once in nine matches. So Radulović is well aware that only all three points will satisfy them this weekend.
Bulgaria, who missed out on promotion in the European Union's C-League, have had a year of misfortune after a dismal run of results in the Qatar 2022 qualifiers. In addition to losing at home to Montenegro in March, the 'Lions' were beaten 3-0 by Group G leaders Hungary, with two 1-1 draws in June accumulating their only points so far. This week they will have a chance to keep their hopes alive in the challenge of Euro 2024 qualifying, but even if they beat Montenegro, they still have a big mountain to climb in their final three games.
Montenegro's probable starting lineup: Mijatovic; Marusic, Savic, Tomasevic, Radunovic; Covic, Jankovic, Scekic, Savicevic; Mugosa, Krstovic
Bulgaria's probable starting lineup: Diurgorov; Petkov, Krastev, Antov; ***v, Chochev, Gruyev, Yordanov; Despodov, Borukov, Derev
MATCH PREDICTION: Montenegro 1-0 Bulgaria Bulgaria's shortcomings at the attacking end make them an unlikely threat to Montenegro's qualifying spot. In their last six matches, they have averaged just one goal every two games. Therefore, the hosts should be able to take all three points and keep the pressure on the other teams in Group G.
