Match report
Substitute Gharibyan seals Armenia's winning Nations League start
Armenia opened their League C Group 2 campaign with a 2–0 home win over Latvia, taking three points before another home game against Montenegro on Monday. Georgi Harutyunyan headed in from a corner in the 31st minute, and substitute Artur Gharibyan added the second in the 75th, six minutes after coming on.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data and the sources linked below.
The second goal showed the value of Armenia's changes: Zhirayr Shaghoyan, introduced on the hour, supplied Gharibyan after the striker replaced Artur Miranyan. Eduard Spertsyan had assisted the opener.
Latvia's federation said coach Paolo Nicolato switched to two strikers midway through the second half. Gharibyan then doubled Armenia's lead, and Latvia struggled to build attacks in the closing stages. Latvia finished with five shots to Armenia's 14 and next host Cyprus on Monday.
Report sources
Armenia beat Latvia 2–0 (half-time 1–0).
Armenia met Latvia in the UEFA Nations League (League C - 1). Kick-off was Friday, 25 September 2026, 16:00 UTC at Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium. Referee: Martin Matoša.
Team pages: Armenia · Latvia · UEFA Nations League
Key moments
- 31' Goal: Georgi Harutyunyan (assist: Eduard Spertsyan) — 1–0 · Watch Georgi Harutyunyan's goal video (31')
- 75' Goal: Artur Gharibyan (assist: Zhirayr Shaghoyan) — 2–0 · Watch Artur Gharibyan's goal video (75')
Starting line-ups
Armenia (5-4-1)
- 1 Ognjen Čančarević
- 21 Nayair Tiknizyan
- 4 Georgi Harutyunyan
- 20 José Julio
- 3 Erik Piloyan
- 2 Artem Bandikyan
- 23 Karlen Hovhannisyan
- 10 Eduard Spertsyan
- 6 Ugochukwu Iwu
- 9 Artur Serobyan
- 18 A. Miranyan
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Armenia 57%, the draw 24%, Latvia 19%. It finished Armenia 2–0 Latvia.
Armenia's rating edge carries it — Armenia are the stronger side on our strength rating, and that is most of Armenia's 57%. The draw at 24% is about what a gap this size usually leaves.
Why Armenia at 57%?
Armenia sit 122 points higher on our strength rating — 1461 to 1339. Sides with a 80–160-point rating edge at home won 56.9% of 13,264 such games. The 300 most similar past games finished 63–21–16.
Why only 57%?
No scored evidence points the other way. 57% is what this rating gap has been worth in games like these; the rest is the draw at 24% and Latvia at 19%.
Why the draw at 24%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 24.5%. These teams' recent games average 3.1 goals — a typical goals environment. Games in that environment drew 24.6% of 25,170.
What did we measure but not count?
Armenia (6 fully-tracked matches with us) and Latvia (8) carry strength ratings anchored to the official international ratings list, so the class read stands on far more than our own short records. National sides play too few games for a record built from scratch, so their rating chain starts from the published international ratings instead of a blind first guess.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Armenia vs Latvia final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this UEFA Nations League fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch Georgi Harutyunyan's goal against Latvia (31').
- Watch Artur Gharibyan's goal against Latvia (75').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Armenia 2–0 Latvia. Explore more on the Armenia and Latvia team pages or the UEFA Nations League page.

