By Ewan Murray
The opening few days of Euro 2024 have flown by in a flash, with seven matches having already been played in Germany.
Three more will come on Monday in another action-packed day of beautiful tournament football, with Euro 2024 favourites France taking to the field for the first time. The 2018 world champions will meet Austria in their Group D opener in the late kick-off.
France have won their opening fixture at the last two European Championships and will be eager to continue that trend against an Austria side that are in red hot form heading into the tournament. Considered possible dark horses in Germany, Ralf Rangnick's side are aiming to upset the odds.
All four Group E sides will also be in action earlier in the day, with Belgium the team most likely to excite neutrals with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku in action.
Here are 90min's predictions for day four of Euro 2024.
Monday 17 June
The first match of the day is perhaps the one least likely to get audiences salivating. In the opening game in Group E,Romania will take on Ukraine in Munich.
Both sides head into the tournament in patchy form but Ukraine will be the undeniable favourites for this one. Their recent history at tournaments is encouraging, although Romania could prove a handful given they topped their qualification group ahead of Switzerland.
Group E action continues in the late afternoon with perennial underachievers Belgium looking to make a bright start. They will meet Slovakia in Frankfurt, but Domenico Tedesco's side will need to overcome a defensive injury crisis to avoid an early upset. Let's not forget that Belgium failed to qualify for the knockout stages at the 2022 World Cup behind eventual semi-finalists Croatia and Morocco.
Slovakia enjoyed a terrific qualification campaign and only tasted defeat to the invincible Portugal. They won seven matches and finished on 22 points, and they have only lost three of their last 17 international matches.
Monday concludes with the biggest game of the day when France face Austria. The French, alongside England, are tournament favourites and Kylian Mbappe and co. will be looking to make a statement in their opening fixture.
However, Austria will likely prove a tougher test than many think. The 2008 tournament co-hosts have been in immense form, losing just one of their last 16 matches. In that time, they have conquered the likes of Germany, Italy and Sweden.
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This article was originally published on 90min.com as Euro 2024 day 4 predictions: France get campaign underway against Austria.
