Sports Weekend

Florin Orban, 23.10.2020, 12:17

Romania’s
football champions CFR Cluj on Thursday defeated CSKA Sofia of Bulgaria nil-2
away from home in the first group fixture in Europa League. Mario Rondon scored
the first goal for CFR on minute 53, while Ciprian Deac scored the second goal
from penalty kick. The first half belonged to the host team, which had several
scoring opportunities, all denied by Romanian goalkeeper Cristian Bălgrădean.
At half time, however, Dan Petrescu’s trainees picked up their game. 8 minutes
into the second half, Adrian Păun took a short corner to Deac, who sent a
superb cross into the penalty box, and Rondon scored with a superb header.
Twenty minutes later, CSKA’s Amos Youga had an illegal tackle on Gabriel
Debeljuh and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Deac scored easily,
setting the final score, 2-nil. The match was played in front of a
12,000-strong crowd. In the other Group A fixture, AS Rome won 1-2 against
Young Boys Berne of Switzerland.

This weekend
will see a new round of matches in the Romanian First Football League. On
Friday, Gaz Metan Medias is playing FC Botoşani, while Universitatea Craiova
will play Academica Clinceni. On Saturday, UTA Arad is playing Chindia
Târgovişte. In Giurgiu, Astra will go up against Poli Iaşi and finally, Sepsi
Sfântu Gheorghe will take on Dinamo Bucharest. On Sunday, Viitorul Constanţa
will play FC Argeş at home, while FC Voluntari will be facing CFR Cluj. On
Monday, FCSB will play FC Hermannstadt. Craiova tops the league tables with 21
points, followed by FCSB and CFR Cluj, each with 15 points.

In the women’s
Champions League in handball, in Group B, on Saturday, SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea are
playing Borussia Dortmund of Germany at home. Romania’s champions lost the
previous 4 games in the group. On Sunday, in Group A, CSM Bucharest will play
Bietigheim of Germany away from home. CSM is in 3rd place in the
group tables with 3 wins and 1 loss.

(Translated by
V. Palcu)