Football Flash

Romania’s vice-champions on Wednesday night outperformed Czech challenger Viktoria Plzen away from home, 4-1. In the first leg, FCSB were held by Viktoria Plzen to a 2-all draw. In the return fixture in the Czech Republic, FCSB drew first blood through Mihai Balasa, who flawlessly turned a free kick into a goal on 27 minutes.

Florin Orban, 03.08.2017, 14:21

The equalizer came on 64 minutes thanks to Mihal Krmencik’s goal. The Romanian braced up and Filipe Teixeira on 71 minutes again put FCSB in the lead. Florin Tanase was quick to score yet another goal for FCSB in five minutes’ time, so the scoreboard displayed a 3-1 advantage for the Romanians.

In the next phase at the Czech’s posts, Teixeira was challenged in the box, so FCSB’s Denis Alibec scored his team’s fourth goal from the spot. This coming Friday, FCSB will find out who their opponents are in the Champions League’s playoffs, at the drawing in Nyon.

The other team representing Romania in the Champions League’s third preliminary round, Viitorul Constanta missed the opportunity to go through to the playoffs. In Cyprus, manager Gheorghe Hagi’s trainees sustained a 4-nil defeat by Cyprus champions APOEL Nicosia, after extra time.

In the first leg of the tie, hosted by the southeastern Romanian town of Ovidiu, Viitorul had grabbed a 1-nil win. Romanian champions also had an auspicious start in the return leg, missing several scoring opportunities in the first half of the game. In the second half, the host team definitely got the upper hand on the pitch.

APOEL’s Carlao was the first to put his team in the lead on 54 minutes, but the Cypriots were unable to score during the regular, 90-minutes time. In the extra time, APOEL were swift to score on 93 minutes, through Georgios Merkis. In minute 94, Brazilian-born Belgian footballer Igor de Camargo scored again for APOEL, while in the final seconds of the extra time’s second half Georgios Efrem sealed the points with a fourth.

Viitorul Constanta will next play in the Europa League’ s playoff round, and they are to find out who their opponent is, also this coming Friday.