Sports weekend

Florin Orban, 09.08.2019, 13:19

Romanian football teams have recently
played their first-leg matches in Europa League preliminaries. Results were
below par. After the first leg of the third preliminary round, Universitatea
Craiova and FCSB stand slim chances to go through to the competition’s playoff.

On home turf, Universitatea Craiova
lost to AEK Athens, nil-2. In the previous season AEK played in the Champions
League’s group stage and for the game against Universitatea, AEK’s Petros
Mantalos and Croatian Marko Livaja scored, on 60 and 84 minutes, respectively.
UEFA banned Universitatea Craiova’s fans from attending the match against AEK
because of the incidents in Craiova’s game against Honved Budapest.

However,
UEFA’s regulations system allows children under 14 to attend matches of their
favorite team, even if regular fans have been banned from attending, so no less
than 3,500 children fans supported Universitatea in their match against AEK
Athens.

In Giurgiu, FCSB were held to a
blank draw by Czech contenders Mlada Boleslav. FCSB had a poor run in the first
half of the game, yet they dominated the second half, created scoring
opportunities but failed to score. Qualification will be decided in the second
leg, to be played on August 15. The winner will prove their mettle in the playoff,
and will most likely face Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes, a team that
secured a 3-nil away win against Latvia’s Venspils.

In the first leg counting towards
Champions League’s third preliminary round, CFR Cluj drew in the home fixture
against Celtic Glasgow, 1-all.

This coming weekend will see
matches being played, counting towards the fifth round of domestic League One.
On Friday, Academica Clinceni face Chindia Targoviste and Politehnica Iasi are
pitted against Dinamo Bucharest. On Saturday, Gaz Metan Medias play a home game
against Astra Giurgiu, while CFR Cluj take on FC Hermannstadt, also on home
turf. On Sunday, Universitatea Craiova play a home game against Sepsi Sfantu
Gheorghe, while in the southern Romanian town of Pitesti, FCSB play a home game
against FC Voluntari. The 5th round’s last match on Monday will see
Viitorul Constanta facing FC Botosani on the former team’s home ground. Ahead of
round 5, Vitorul Constanta and CFR Cluj are at the top of the table, with 10
points each. Universitatea Craiova are 2nd-placed, with 9 points.