The meeting of the two unfancied nations in Group C2 is expected to be a battle to avoid finishing bottom and being forced into the relegation play-offs.

Lithuania needed that route to stay in League C last time out, which means they have played in League C in all four editions of the Nations League so far.

A two-legged victory over Gibraltar in March secured their place at this level, following one of their best qualifying campaigns in recent years.

Edgaras Jankauskas' side finished fourth in their Euro 2024 qualifying section, ahead of Bulgaria, beating the Lions and holding Hungary and Montenegro to draws.

While much of Europe was preparing for the Euro finals, Lithuania were competing in the Baltic Cup and narrowly missed out on the final, losing to Estonia on penalties after beating neighbours Latvia in the semi-finals.

Jankauskas has done enough to keep his FA happy, but the same cannot be said for Ketsbaia in the Cypriot hot seat, and the former Georgian international is in last-chance saloon territory.

A disastrous Euro 2024 qualifying campaign saw Cyprus lose all eight of their matches, with a goal difference of minus-25, and they also lost to Moldova in early June, with a 4-1 win over San Marino soon after doing little to ease the pressure.

Five points from six games in their last Nations League campaign was enough to avoid the relegation play-offs despite finishing bottom of their section, but they must use this as an opportunity to get some rare wins on the board.

Ketsbaia has won just four of his 18 games in charge, and the Cypriots haven't won a competitive away game since 2019 against Kazakhstan - losing 14 of the 17 since then.

This will be the fifth time the two nations have met, and Cyprus will see this as an opportunity to end that drought, having won their last meeting in November last year by one goal to nil.

The three previous encounters all took place on either side of the millennium in different iterations of the Cyprus Invitational Tournament, with Cyprus also coming out on top in those matches - two wins to Lithuania's one.

Lithuania possible starting lineup:

Gertmonas; Lekiatas, Kazukolovas, Tutyskinas; Lasickas, Slivka, Verbickas, Vorobjovas, Sirvys; Kucys, Paulauskas

Cyprus possible starting lineup:

Mall; Kyprianou, Gogic, Laifis; Andreou, Charalampous, Kyriakou, Anderson Correia; Pittas, Kastanos, Loizou

Prediction:Lithuania 1-1 Cyprus

Lithuania VS Cyprus stream and TV listing

International：Holasports