Romania and Albania both adopt positive approach to Group A finale

Romania and Albania will be hoping to turn promising displays into a crucial victory from their final Group A match in Lyon which could keep alive hopes of making the knock-out stages of Euro 2016.

Only a superb late strike from Dimitri Payet gave hosts France a 2-1 win over Romania on the opening night of the tournament at the Stade de France, while Anghel Iordanescu's industrious side were then unfortunate to leave the Parc des Princes in Paris with only a 1-1 draw against Switzerland.

Albania, meanwhile, went down on their debut at the European Championship 1-0 to the Swiss in Lens, where they played most of the match with 10 men following the sending off of captain Lorik Cana, but nevertheless created enough chances to get a positive result.

In Marseille, Gianni De Biasi's side also came within moments of securing a memorable goalless draw against France before Antoine Griezmann struck in the final minute and a second deep into injury time from Payet secured a flattering scoreline.

Despite the frustrations of not being able to return more from those encouraging performances, both sides remain in the hunt to secure one of the four qualification berths as best third-placed teams.

However, a draw would almost certainly not be enough for either team.

Albania coach De Biasi remains positive ahead of the all-or-nothing showdown in Lyon.

The Italian said: "I believe we can qualify. I think that if we are able to score the goals that we haven't against Switzerland and France, then we could get the three points that may get us into the knock-out rounds."

Cana could return for Albania, having served his one-match suspension, while midfielder Taulant Xhaka is also pressing for a return to the starting XI.

Romania, meanwhile, will assess midfielder Mihai Pintilii and defender Razvan Rat ahead of the match.

Speaking to Digi Sport television, forward Florin Andone accepts Romania must produce the required focus if they are to secure a qualification lifeline.

"We must show the mentality of winners against Albania," he said. "We are aware that a victory could send us through, so we will give it a 100 per cent effort."

To protect the playing surface at the Stade de Lyon, the scheduled training sessions for Saturday were moved to Plaine de jeux de Gerland.

However, Albania goalkeeper Etrit Berisha believes that cannot be offered up as an excuse for failing to produce the required display.

"We know about that, it is because of the bad weather, but for us it is okay. We will be prepared for the game tomorrow," the Lazio player said at UEFA's pre-match press conference.

"This is the biggest game of our career and we will give everything, we are more motivated than ever.

"We have played good games before this, it was just a matter of details which we are going to try to fix in the next game.

"We created chances against both France and Switzerland, but were unlucky not to score."

Albania coach De Biasi hopes his side can find their clinical edge to score a first goal of Euro 2016.

"We created chances (in both matches), but were not experienced enough to finalise what we had built throughout the game," he said.

"The team has played with pride for their fans, and determination. We are not scared and have played head-to-head against some top teams.

"Tomorrow is a do-or-die situation.

"I have said to them that now we must take advantage of all the chances we have, but also be focused on the defensive side, so we will try to do the perfect game tomorrow because we have to win."

Sunday will mark Iordanescu's 100th match as part of Romania's management team.

However, the 66-year-old - who guided Steaua Bucharest to four domestic titles as well as the final of the 1989 European Cup, is not concerned by anything other than securing the required result against Albania.

"I ignore my number of matches with the national team. The most important thing is the objective we are pursuing. Our players have to understand that this is the chance of a generation," said Iordanescu, who also won 57 intenational caps.

"Romanian football needs this. For years our team has not been present at the Euros and this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to obtain a result that will delight the entire country. That is why we have to be focused and avoid expending energy on useless things.

"The boys need to understand that they have to leave everything on the pitch to get a result."