Ahead of a potential winner-takes-all tie with Italy next month, Ukraine's penultimate Euro 2024 qualifying Group C showdown comes away to minnows Malta on Tuesday.
Sergiy Rebrov's side overcame North Macedonia 2-0 to remain on the coat-tails of the Azzurri, who pummelled the already-eliminated hosts by four goals to nil at the weekend.
After the Fiorentina man became the oldest player to score his first goal for Italy, Domenico Berardi earned his own slice of personal history with a first-ever Azzurri brace, before Davide Frattesi came off the bench to complete a fantastic four for the holders in Bari.
The final nail had already been hammered into Malta's coffin before their unsuccessful sojourn to Italy, and the Group C curtain cannot come down soon enough for Michele Marcolini's men, who are guaranteed to finish fifth in the five-team section owing to six dampening defeats.
Furthermore, since Yannick Yankam managed a late consolation in the Reds' opening-day defeat to North Macedonia, Malta have gone scoreless in each of their last five Group C contests, although the Ta' Qali faithful at least have friendly successes over Luxembourg and Gibraltar to shout about in 2023.
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