Ukraine vs. Spain – Nations League, October 13, 2020

The reverse fixtures have come around quickly in this speedy Nations League competition this season – and Tuesday sees Spain travelling to Kyiv to take on Ukraine, hoping that it can repeat the comprehensive victory of a month ago. But Ukraine has done well after being promoted from the last campaign and will look to put up a good fight at home.

Spain tops the group after three games and BetOnline is not ready to suggest that Ukraine has a chance of winning the points on Tuesday – even with the advantage of playing at home. After the thrashing handed out in Madrid in September that is not really a surprise, but there will be some tired legs out there and the draw could be interesting for the risk-takers.

After starting off this international break with a 7-1 thrashing from World champions France, Ukraine’s 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Germany on Saturday doesn’t actually seem too bad. It was always going to be tough for Andriy Shevchenko’s side to compete at this higher level though, so not being bottom of the group should be seen as an achievement.

More worrying would be the number of goals that Ukraine is conceding recently. There have been some well-publicized problems putting together a full squad during this international break but the defenders, in particular, will need to watch the pace of the Spanish youngsters on Tuesday.

Spain manager Luis Enrique has used this Nations League campaign as an opportunity to blood some of his more inexperienced players – and it has largely worked. The 4-0 win against Tuesday’s opponents was a high point, but the mix of youth and veteran players has been successful the majority of the time.

The 1-0 win over Switzerland on Saturday was not a thrilling performance by Spain, but it did keep it top of the group with just one goal conceded halfway through this group stage. This should be tougher than the home game against Ukraine but a win would put the pressure on Germany in second place.

Although it is tempting to think that Ukraine might be able to pull off a shock win at home on Tuesday, it should be remembered that this team was easily beaten by Spain just a month ago. The narrow defeat to Germany was a good enough response to the mauling by France, but this should be another chance for the Spanish youngsters to frighten an opponent’s defense.