CFR Cluj advances towards the Champions League

Romanian football side CFR Cluj goes beyond the first preliminary round of the Champions League

Florin Orban, 20.08.2020, 13:45

The Romanians secured a 2-0 away win
against Floriana in Malta and have thus qualified for the competition’s second
preliminary round

The Romanian champions proved cautious
in their game against the Maltese side though the hosts shouldn’t have been
considered a threat. Before the game the Romanian coach Dan Petrescu had
mentioned some of the problems he feared, such as the artificial pitch and the
preponderantly South-American lineup of the hosts.

Both sides put up a lackluster play in
the first half of the game as they decided to take no risk. The visitors
mounted some bold attacks in the second half of the game and French Mike Cestor
put them in the lead on 54 minutes with a header. Catalin Golofca sealed the
points for the visitors also with a header 7 minutes into the extra time.

CFR will be playing Croatian champions
Dinamo Zagreb in a home match next week in the second round of the Champions
League preliminaries. Dinamo started the new football season with a clear 6-0
win against Lokomotiv Zagreb, the country’s second representative in the
Champions League qualifiers. CFR Cluj will be taking on Academica Clincheni on
Sunday.

Coach Petrescu is trying to build a
strong lineup for the match against the Croatians as many of his players are
still recovering from injuries. Petrescu has told a TV channel that one of
CFR’s most valuable players, French striker Billel Omrani will not be able to
play against Dinamo Zagreb.

(translated by bill)