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Romania welcome Greece to the Steaua Bucharest Stadium in an international friendly fixture on Friday.
The two sides were eliminated from the FIFA World Cup qualifiers last year, finishing third in Group J and Group B respectively. After the game, the hosts travel to Israel on Tuesday while Greece will take on Montenegro on Monday.
This will be the first game for both sides since November, when Romania recorded a 2-0 win over Liechtenstein and Greece were held to a 1-1 draw in their final World Cup qualification fixtures.
Romania vs Greece Head-to-Head
The two Balkan rivals have locked horns 34 times across all competitions. Though Romania have historically been the better side in this fixture, the two sides have been evenly matched in their last 15 games, with five wins apiece and five games ending in draws.
Overall, the hosts lead 18-6 in wins and 10 games have ended in draws. They last squared off in the Euro 2016 qualifiers in 2015 at the National Arena in Bucharest.
Romania form guide (World Cup qualifiers): W-D-W-L-D
Greece form guide (World Cup qualifiers): D-L-L-W-W
Romania vs Greece Team News
Romania
A 26-man squad was announced by Edward Iordănescu for the two friendly games against Greece and Israel. Goalkeeper Florin Iacob was ruled out due to a positive COVID-19 test. He was replaced by Horațiu Moldovan in the initial lineup.
There are no reported injuries or suspensions for Tricolorii. Dennis Man, Andrei Ivan and Nicușor Bancu did not train with the squad due to flu-like symptoms and their involvement here is doubtful.
Injuries: None
Doubtful: Dennis Man, Andrei Ivan, Nicușor Bancu
Suspension: None
Unavailable: Florin Iacob (COVID-19)
Greece
Kostas Stafylidis was ruled out with a knee injury last week and was replaced in the squad by Lefteris Lyratzis. Marios Vrousai and Giorgos Masouras tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week and have been omitted from the squad.
Tasos Chatzigiovanis was called up as a replacement. Dimitris Limnios did not train with an illness and is a doubt.
Injuries: Kostas Stafylidis
Doubtful: Dimitris Limnios
Suspension: None
Unavailable: Marios Vrousai, Giorgos Masouras (COVID-19)
Romania vs Greece Predicted XI
Romania Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Florin Nita (GK); Andrei Ratiu, Vlad Chiriches, Ionut Nedelcearu, Andrei Burcă; Valentin Mihăilă, Florin Tănase; Ianis Hagi, Alexandru Cicaldau, Alexandru Maxim; George Puscas
Greece Predicted XI (3-5-2): Odysseas Vlachodimos (GK); Dimitris Goutas, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Georgos Tzavellas; Lazaros Rota, Sotiris Alexandropoulos, Manolis Siopis, Andreas Bouchalakis, Kostas Tsimikas; Vangelis Pavlidis, Marios Vrousai
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Romania vs Greece Prediction
Romania are unbeaten in their last three games and will be looking forward to extending this run. Greece have just one win to their name in their previous trips to Romania and might struggle here.
While it is just a friendly game, both sides are expected to contest it well. Nonetheless, we believe that Romania will come out on top.
Prediction: Romania 2-1 Greece
