Preview: Moldova vs Bulgaria - prediction, team news, lineups

Moldova welcome Bulgaria to the Stadionul Zimbru on Friday evening for their latest international friendly match.

Despite a late fight back, the Tricolorii fell to a 3-2 defeat against Cyprus in their previous fixture, while the Lions lost 1-0 at home to Montenegro on Monday evening.

Match preview

Moldova’s dream of participating at a first ever major tournament this summer was swiftly crushed in their qualification group, finishing with one point from their eight matches.

Although booking their spot at the FIFA World Cup looked ambitious beforehand, the Tricolorii will be extremely disappointed with the outcome of Group I, only managing to avoid defeat at home to Estonia and conceding a whopping 16 goals across their two matches against Norway.

Losing against both Lithuania and Cyprus since their qualification campaign, Moldova’s recent form has gone from bad to worse as Lilian Popescu’s side now find themselves without a win in any of their previous 13 matches, last claiming victory away to Andorra in November 2024.

However, Moldovan fans will be hoping their side can rectify recent woes and write a piece of history on Friday by beating Bulgaria for the first time, having lost both prior meetings to the Lions over 30 years ago.

Picking up just one win from their six matches, Bulgaria finished rock bottom of Group E and failed to qualify for this summer’s World Cup, extending their tournament finals hiatus to a minimum of 28 years.

Prior to their 2-1 victory against Georgia in the final group match, the Lions tasted defeat in six consecutive games and were winless in any of their previous 10, conceding a whopping 29 goals over that stretch.

However, despite narrowly losing to Montenegro on Monday evening, Aleksandar Dimitrov’s side responded well to the adversity, winning each of the next three, including both of March’s FIFA Series matches.

Going into Friday’s contest as favourites, the visitors will certainly be confident of continuing the feel-good factor too and maintaining their 100% record against Moldova.

Moldova form (all competitions):

Bulgaria form (all competitions):

Team News

With Maccabi Tel Aviv forward Ion Nicolaescu currently still sidelined with an ACL injury, it is likely that Petru Popescu will be the focal point once more for Moldova.

The 24-year-old has made only two appearances for his national team, but scored a respectable 15 league goals for Super Liga side Petrocub Hincesti this season and netted against Cyprus in the Tricolorii's previous outing.

After scoring off the bench in his previous appearance, it remains to be seen whether midfielder Victor Stina is rewarded with a place in Friday's starting lineup.

The visitors are also without their starting striker as PAOK's Kiril Despodov continues his recovery from a finger injury, Tonislav Yordanov is expected to deputise in his place.

Dimitrov's side will be without star man Ilia Gruev too as the Leeds United midfielder progresses with rehabilitation on a meniscus injury sustained in training.

Moldova possible starting lineup:

Cojuha; Stefan, Baboglo, Dumbravanu; Revenco, Rata, Lungu, Puscas, Gherasimencov; Fratea, Popescu

Bulgaria possible starting lineup:

Naumov; Galchev, Dinitrov, Ivanov, Velkovski; Panayotov, Kraev, Iliev; M.Petkov, Yordanov, L.Petkov

We say: Moldova 1-2 Bulgaria

Although neither side is preparing for tournament football this summer, both Moldova and Bulgaria will want to bounce back from defeats last time out, setting up a closely contested affair.

However, we think that despite narrowly missing out to Montenegro, the Lions will have just too much for their hosts and make it three wins from their previous four fixtures.

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