Romania - Liga 1 - U Cluj vs Universitatea Craiova

Universitatea Cluj

Coach Ionut Badea really wants a victory in the match agaist Craiova:”This game is very important to us, it is very difficult but we really have to win. Craiova is on the rebound, coach Reghecampf has succeeded in restoring his players’ confidence and I think this is going to be a difficult game. We feel like home at Medias and we hope that tomorrow we will have the advantage on the scoreboard.”

The discipline committee has sanctioned Gaston Mendy, he will not play one stage and has to pay 740 lei financial penalty for the red card received in the game against CFR. Besides Mendy, coach Badea will not be able to count on Tony neither, so he will have to bet on Niculescu ad Machado in attack. Alexandru Pacurar trained well these days and is ready to play against Craiova.

Probable team: M.Popa - Ungurusan, Abrudan, Pele, Bazzi - Cojocnean, Adrian Cristea, Menassel, Bostina - Cl.Niculescu, Machado;Coach: Ionut Badea; Injured: Szilagyi, Tony, Morar; Suspended: G.Mendy; Substitutes: Bosneag, Munteanu, Delgado, Pacurar, Voican, Buhus, V.Gheorghe

Universitatea Cluj announced its project to open a museum inside the new Cluj Arena Stadium.Cluj management asked for the fans supportin order to enlarge the collection of exhibits in the future museum: „If you want to contribute to the opening of the museum, and if you have pictures, documents, sports equipment or other things belonging to Universitatea, you can sen the to the club”. The new stadium is bound to be given in use this summer, after 2 years of works. Cluj Arena will have 30001 places and category UEFA Elite.

Universitatea Cluj obtained a new tie with rival CFR, score 1-1, scoring in the last minute of the game. It was a lucky draw, but what counts the most is the fact that it obtained a point away. For Badea’s team 2 important games follow which will decide the team’s future, if it escapes relegation or not. If it manages to defeat Craiova tomorrow, it will have a 9 points advantage over its rival and the rest of the season will be more quiet. In the first part of the championsip, Craiova won with the score 3-0 and now is time for Universtatea’s rematch.

Universitatea Craiova

In a press conference before the match, Laurentiu Reghecampf declared that Craiova has chances to avoid relegation:” Players from Cluj are very well trained and I am sure they will try to obtain a good result. We don’t have problems, all players are prepared to play, I am sure they will do their best on the court as it is important to win this game. We can avoid relegation, recent results are not helping as so much but we have to play and win the points we need. It is important to improve our performance and win as many pints as we can."

36 points! This is the minimum number of points that a team needs to have to save itself from relegation. Before the last 8 rounds, Universitatea Craiova has 26 points and they should win at least 10 until the end to escape Liga 2.

This is how it was in the last 4 years:

- Season 2006-2007: Farul saved itself with 37 points
- Season 2007-2008: Gloria Buzau saved itself with 37 points
- Season 2008-2009: Poli Iasi escaped with 37 points
- Season 2009-2010: Craiova and Astra had both 36 points

Probable team: S.Lung jr. - Dananae, Zoro, Gugu, David Lopes - Prepelita, D.Stoica, J.Nicolae, Gangioveanu - Fl.Costea, Subotic; Coach: Laurentiu Reghecampf; Injured: Walter Lopez, Ciuca, Craciun, Ologu; Suspended: -; Substitutes: Hotoboc, Busu, Wendel, Firtulescu, M.Costea, Stoianof, Bujor

LAST GAME (Universitatea Craiova - FCM Targu-Mures 2-1)
Scored: 1-0 Florin Costea (7), 1-1 Lucian Raduta (29), 2-1 Danijel Subotic (40)
U.Craiova: 21. Lung - 18. Dananae, 7. Gugu, 4. Zoro, 3. D. Lopes - 88. Nicolae, 5. D. Stoica, 30. Prepelita, 25. Firtulescu (28. Gangioveanu '70) - 20. Subotici (27. Bujor '61), 10. Fl. Costea (19. Stoianof '57). Coach: Laurentiu Reghecampf.
FCM: 22. Balauru - 15. Rus, 4. Cordos (19. Fl. Dan '46), 28. Cr. Munteanu, 24. L. Szilagyi - 23. D. Matei - 25. Vagner (9. Ruiz '74), 83. Vasilache, 8. Vartic, 21. Astafei - 20. Raduta (10. Didi '74). Coach: Ioan Ovidiu Sabau.
Yellow cards: Firtulescu '66, Zoro '73 - Vrtic '11, Vasilache '45+1.

After 6 months and 12 matches, U. Craiova managed to win a game at home, 2-1 against FCM Targu-Mures. This success comes at a very good time because if they were to lose the game the chances to stay Liga 1 were to be very small. They need not to lose with U Cluj, because Pandurii won with Astra and it is at 7 points in front. They will play in the next round an important relegation battle with Brasov so that is why they need to get at least 1 point here.

Such a tricky game here. If I were to take this bet any other day it could have been U Cluj without a doubt, but now Craiova needs badly the win. Sincerily? I don't think it will happen but this is not a certain choice. So you could do with just 2-3 units on U Cluj -0.5.