The bottom two nations in Group I of Euro 2024 qualifying square off at Szusza Ferenc Stadion in Budapest as Belarus take on Andorra.

These teams meet for the first time since playing out a goalless draw in the reverse fixture two months ago.

Match preview

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Despite claiming six points from their last five Group I fixtures, Belarus' hopes of qualifying for Euro 2024 are over as they currently sit fifth in the group and 10 points adrift of both Switzerland and Romania in the top two with two games remaining.

Nevertheless, manager Carlos Alos will have taken plenty of positives from his side's recent performances, including successive draws against Romania and Switzerland last month – playing out a goalless stalemate with the former three days before drawing 3-3 with the latter.

The White Wings were surprisingly leading 3-1 away against the Swiss last time out – seven months on from their 5-0 home drubbing on matchday one – courtesy of goals from Max Ebong, Denis Polyakov and Dmitri Antilevski, but they were unable to hold on for maximum points as two late strikes from Manuel Akanji and Zeki Amdouni restored parity for the hosts.

Belarus, ranked 100th in the world by FIFA, head into Saturday's clash with Andorra seeking to put together a three-game unbeaten run in competitive matches for the first time since October/November 2020.

Alos's men, who have already bettered their points tally from Euro 2020 qualifying (four) with two games to spare, will fancy their chances of success on Saturday as they are unbeaten in their last four meetings with Andorra, winning three times and scoring 11 goals in the process.

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Since claiming a point in September's goalless draw with Belarus, Andorra have lost each of their last three qualifiers in Group I by an aggregate score of 10-0, failing to register a single shot on target on two of those occasions.

After suffering a 3-0 home defeat to Kosovo, the Tricolours were put to the sword 4-0 by Romania in their most recent match and they subsequently sit rock bottom of Group I, four points adrift of fifth-placed Belarus heading into their final two fixtures.

Although Koldo Alvarez's side, ranked 159th in the world by FIFA, cannot qualify for Euro 2024, they can boost their chances of moving off the foot of Group I with a victory over Belarus on Saturday – not since a 2-0 triumph in April 2000 have the Tricolours come out on top against the White Wings.

Success on Saturday could prove challenging, though, as they have only won two of their last 25 international away matches across all competitions since September 2018, while they have never won an away qualifier in the European Championships.

Team News

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Belarus boss Also deployed a 5-4-1 formation against Switzerland last time out, but he could call upon Sergey Karpovich and Kiryl Pyachenin to operate as wing-backs in a more attack-minded 3-4-3 setup against Andorra.

Astana midfielder Ebong has scored three of Belarus' seven goals in Euro 2024 qualifying and he is expected to take up a central role alongside either Nikita Korzun or Valery Bocherov.

BATE Borisov's Artem Kontsevoy has only scored once in seven international appearances, but he is the most likely candidate to lead the line, and he could be supported in attack by Ivan Bakhar and Maksim Skavysh.

As for Andorra, they will be without defender Moises San Nicolas after he was sent off in the closing stages of the defeat to Romania last time out.

The absence of San Nicolas could see either Kiko Pomares or Aleix Viladot join Marc Vales and Max Llovera at centre-back, as Jesus Rubio and Marc Garcia occupy the full-back positions in a five-man defence.

At the ripe age of 41 and 39 respectively, midfielders Marc Pujol and Marcio Vieira will both be pushing to start alongside Marc Rebes, while Aaron Sanchez – who is yet to score in 30 international matches – will hope to retain his place up front ahead of Ricard Fernandez and Jordi Alaez.

Belarus possible starting lineup:
Ignatovich; Volkov, Politevich, Polyakov; Karpovich, Ebong, Korzun, Pyachenin; Skavysh, Kontsevoy, Bakhar

Andorra possible starting lineup:
Alvarez; Rubio, Llovera, M. Vales, Pomares, Garcia; E. Vales, Rebes, Vieira, Cervos; Alaez

We say: Belarus 1-0 Andorra

These two European minnows are merely playing for pride on Saturday, but nevertheless will be motivated to claim a rare victory that can provide a much-needed morale boost heading into their final fixture of 2023 next week.

Another closely-fought contest could be in store, but we believe that Belarus have the edge in the final third and will do just enough to claim all three points.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Oliver Thomas

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