RRI Sports Club
The latest from football
Florin Orban, 14.08.2019, 13:13
CFR Cluj is one step away from the Champions Leagues group stage. On Tuesday, Romanias former champion qualified for the Leagues play-off, to the detriment of the Scots from Celtic Glasgow. After the match on home turf last week, which ended in a 1-1 draw, CFR Cluj won in Scotland 4-3. In Glasgow, the team trained by Dan Petrescu controlled the first half of the game and scored after 27 minutes, thanks to Ciprian Deac. In the second half, Celtic played better and turned the tables with two goals, scored by James Forrest in the 51st minute and the French Odsonne Edouard ten minutes later.
Cluj managed to restore the balance after 74 minutes, when the French Billel Omrani transformed a penalty shot. After only two minutes, Celtics Ryan Christie scored again. The Romanian squad managed to equalize in the 80th minute, also thanks to Omrani. George Tucudean set the final score in extra time, and the match ended 4-3 for the Romanian team.
CFR Cluj will play in the Champions League play-off against Slavia Prague, the Check champion. The first game is scheduled for August 20th, in Romania. In the Europa League play-off, Celtic will play against either Sheriff Tiraspol, from Moldova, or AIK Solna, of Sweden. The Scandinavians won away from home, in the first leg, 2-1.
On Thursday, two Romanian teams will play for qualification to the Europa League play off. Universitatea Craiova is meeting the Greeks from AEK Athens away from home, after a game on home turf in Craiova, which ended 2-1 in favour of the Greek squad. The team that will qualify in the play-off will meet the winner of the game pitting Sparta Prague, of the Check Republic against Trabzonspor of Turkey. In Prague, the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, will also play away from home, against the Czech squad Mlada Boleslav. In the first leg in Giurgiu, the match ended in a nil-nil draw. Most likely, in the play-off the winner will take on the Portuguese team Vitoria Guimaraes, which, in the first leg, defeated the Latvians from Ventspils 2-2. (translated by M.Ignatescu)
