Romanian Football Squads Play their Debut Games in the European Football Competitions

The European football competitions have now reached the group stage. Preparing for the kick-start in Europe are two Romanians teams: Steaua Bucharest and Pandurii Targu Jiu.

Florin Orban, 17.09.2013, 14:17

The European football competitions have now reached the group stage. Preparing for the kick start in Europe are two Romanians teams: Steaua Bucharest and Pandurii Targu Jiu. Steaua Bucharest are looking set to prove their mettle in the Champions’ League and Pandurii Targu Jiu will be playing their games in the Europa League.

In their group, Steaua will be rubbing shoulders with Chelsea, Schalke and Basle. The Romanians will be playing their first game in the German city of Gelsenkirchen. Steaua’s as well as Schalke’s domestic record so far are bracing for either team, since the Romanian players thrashed Sageata Navodari on home turf, 5-nil, while Schalke snatched a precious 1-nil away win against Mainz, thanks to a goal scored by Kevin-Prince Boateng, who has been recently transferred from AC Milan.

We should also note that Steaua strengthened their defensive compartment, since they brought back the Greek Pantelis Kapetanos from CFR Cluj; however, Kapetanos is highly unlikely to be included among Steaua’s lineup against this coming Wednesday’s game in Germany.

Pandurii Targu Jiu’s European trail, however, is far more surprising. After having defeated the Portuguese side Sporting Braga in the playoff of the competition, Pandurii are part of a group that also includes Dniepr Dnepropetrovsk from Ukraine, Pacos de Ferreira from Portugal and the Italian side Fiorentina. Pandurii’s domestic record ahead of their first Europe League game against Dniepr, to be played this coming Thursday in Cluj, starting 8 pm, Romanian Time, includes a 2-1 home win against Dinamo Bucharest.

We should not fail to mention, however, that Dniepr are also in top shape, since in their championship they defeated Shakhtar Donetsk, 3-1, while this past Sunday on home turf they snatched a 1-nil win in the game against Tavria Simferopol.