At the same time, while the champions France were playing against the Switzerland national team, in another Group A match, the Romanian and Albanian teams met.
They were fighting for the third place, although the Romanians, under ideal circumstances, could have stayed in second place.
However, they failed to advance to the knockout stages.
Team lineups:
Romania: C. Tatarusanu; V. Chiriches, C. Sapunaru, D. Grigore, A. Matel; O, Hoban, A. Popa (68' F. Andone), N. Stanciu, B. Stancu, A. Prepelita (46' Sanmartean); D. Alibec (57' G. Torje).
Albania: E. Berisha; A. Agolli, M. Mavraj, A. Arlind Ajeti, A. Lila, E. Hysaj; M. Basha (83' L. Cana), L. Memushaj, E. Lenjani (77' O. Roshi), A. Abrashi; A. Sadiku (59' B. Balaj).
Not even the exceptional 90-year-old Romanian fan could help them:
The favorites of the duel, the Romanians, did not look back in the first minutes and tried to create attacks.
In the third minute, Nicolae Stanciu scored the opening goal, followed shortly by Ovidiu Hobanas hitting the goalkeeper.
Later, the game equalized, and the Albanians also had one opportunity when Ermiras Lenjani found himself in a very convenient position. However, before that, he was offside.
The first goal unexpectedly went to the Romanian team. In the 43rd minute, after a pass from Lediano Memushaj from the edge of the penalty area, Armando Sadiku beautifully scored with his head.
This episode concluded all action in the first half.
Sadiku's goal scored in the European Championship was the first in Albanian history:
After the break, Romania made a change - Lucian Sanmartean replaced Andreja Prepelita.
However, their attacks did not become more effective, and in the 51st minute, Albania launched a dangerous counterattack. In their opponent's third, they had a numerical advantage, but failed to make a shot.
Romania tried to equalize as much as possible. They had both positional attacks and unsuccessful long shots on goal.
The most dangerous episode happened in the 72nd minute, when Romania managed to infiltrate the opponents' penalty area with a team effort. It seemed like it would end with a goal, but the linesman flagged for an offside, which later turned out to be incorrect.
A few minutes later, substitute striker Florinas Andone hit the crossbar, but Romania failed to create more chances.
With three points, Albania moved up to third place in the group and will wait for news on advancing to the next stage with a goal difference of -2.
Result:
Romania 0 - 1 Albania [0-1] 43' Armando Sadiku
Group A standings:
