Feeling fortunate to be left in the competition after the group stage, Ukraine qualified for Tuesday's Euro 2020 last-16 tie against Sweden with just three points and a negative goal difference.

Progressing as only the fourth-best of the third-placed sides at the end of the opening phase, Andriy Shevchenko's team nevertheless qualified for the latter stages of a Euros for the first time since gaining independence, and now the AC Milan legend is poised to shuffle his pack up front.

Favouring a 4-3-3 formation, 'Sheva' has been hamstrung by injuries to two options on the left side of his attack in recent games, as after scoring his first international goal during a pre-tournament friendly, Oleksandr Zubkov was injured early on in the opening match and has not played since.

A regular feature in the first XI during qualification, left-footed right-winger Viktor Tsyhankov - who scored 12 goals and provided four assists in 20 Ukrainian Premier League games last term - is short of fitness after a calf injury too, but could be risked from the start.

After midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi was forced to deputise in attack versus both North Macedonia and Austria, now Shevchenko is expected to move the Atalanta man back into the engine room and throw Tsyhankov into a forward triumvirate alongside Andriy Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk.

That pair had both scored in three successive internationals before the defeat to Austria and are now the country's joint-top scorers at the European Championships on two goals. Yarmolenko's all-time tally of international goals is now up to 42, just six behind Shevchenko's national record, while Yaremchuk's strike against North Macedonia was his fourth in six appearances.

In midfield, meanwhile, Mykola Shaparenko and Taras Stepanenko are further options should the Synio-Zhovti opt to bolster the centre of the park versus a disciplined and hard-running Sweden side.

Ukraine possible starting lineup: Bushchan; Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Mykolenko; Malinovskyi, Sydorchuk, Zinchenko; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Tsyhankov

> Click here to see how Sweden could line up for Tuesday's last-16 clash

Written by
Jonathan O'Shea