Bulgaria vs Belarus

The Bulgarians and the Belarusians will square off in the UEFA Nations League on Monday night, although the two teams still have a lot to play for as they step out for the final time at Group 3 of League C for the upcoming 2024-25 season.

The home side are currently in second place in the section, two points behind the leaders Northern Ireland while the third placed Belarus will also be hoping for a promotion playoff place two points behind the home side.

Bulgaria have won two games, drawn two and lost only one out of the five games they have played in Group 3 of League C and they have scored 8 points which makes them occupies the second place with two points difference behind the leaders Northern Ireland and two points ahead of the third team Belarus.

The Lions gained five points in three games against Belarus, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg but they are stunned by a 5-0 defeat in Northern Ireland last month.

Expectations were on Ilian Iliev’s side to carry the day over Luxembourg on the Friday night with Andrian Kraev’s only goal to see his side win 1-0 to move to the second position in the group.

However, Belarus can still finish first and qualify for League B automatically if they beat Bulgaria and then pray that Northern Ireland do not beat Luxembourg on that same day.

So far the hosts have had the better of their immediate predecessors having won five drawn one and lost three of the preceding nine games against Belarus, but they have not succeeded in defeating Monday’s opponents since November 2016, Belarus, winning two of their last three encounters.

They have registered only five matches out of the total section matches in which Belarus have won one, drawn three and lost one to get six points and Belarus at the third position in the table are only two points behind the second positioned Belarus.

If they win on Monday, they will move up to second place and qualify for the promotion playoffs; if they lose or tie, they will drop to third place, four points behind Luxembourg at the bottom.

In their two October international matches, Carlos Ferrer's team drew at home against Northern Ireland and Luxembourg. However, they lost 2-0 to Northern Ireland on Friday night, dropping them to third place.

Belarus has only lost one of their past five away games across all competitions, which should give them confidence going into Monday's exciting matchup. As it stands, Belarus will remain in League C for the upcoming Nations League campaign.

It wouldn't be shocking to see the same starting lineup here as Bulgaria hasn't reported any injuries from their match against Luxembourg on Friday night.

Although the 31-year-old Aleksandar Kolev has yet to score an international goal, he is anticipated to hold onto his position in the last third of the field, as is Filip Krastev.

With 15 goals, Kiril Despodov is the team's captain and top scorer. The 28-year-old is guaranteed to start for the home team in this match.