Sports Weekend
Two of Romania’s three teams enrolled in European inter-club competitions have advanced to the next stage following Thursday’s matches.
Florin Orban, 29.08.2025, 13:45
The preliminary phase of European inter-club football competitions ended on Thursday. Romania will have two teams in the group stage – FCSB in Europa League and Universitatea Craiova in Conference League.
In the Europa League play-offs, in the second leg, FCSB defeated the Scottish side FC Aberdeen 3-0 at home. Darius Olaru scored the first goal in the first half extra time from penalty kick. When the penalty kick was awarded, the Dane Alexander Jensen received a second yellow card for a handball and was sent off. Capitalizing on the one-man advantage, FCSB scored another two goals in the second half, Adrian Şut, on minute 52, and Darius Olaru again, seven minutes later. We recall that, in the first round, in Scotland, the score was tied, 2-2.
In the second leg of the Conference League play-offs, Universitatea Craiova started as favorites the confrontation on its home field against Istanbul Başakşefir, after winning away 2-1. However, the Turks tied the score on aggregate on minute 7, when they scored through German Davie Selke. Coach Mirel Rădoi’s trainees came back quickly and, two minutes later, made it 1-1. They then dominated the game and scored another two goals, Ştefan Baiaram, on minute 27, and Steven Nsimba, on minute 81. For Universitatea, this is the first qualification in history in the group stage of a European competition.
CFR Cluj on the other hand was eliminated from Conference League. They won the second leg of the match against the Swedish team Häcken on Thursday at home, thanks to a goal scored on minute 47 by Adrian Păun, but in the first leg the score was 7-2 for the Swedish side, so CFR did not advance.
In other news from football, this weekend will see matches counting towards the eighth round of the Romanian Super League. On Friday, Rapid Bucharest will play UTA Arad. On Saturday, Unirea Slobozia will take on Universitatea Cluj, whereas Dinamo Bucharest will play FC Hermannstadt. On Sunday, FC Argeş will go up against Metaloglobus, FC Botoşani will play Universitatea Craiova while CFR Cluj will take on FCSB. On Monday, Csikszereda will play Oţelul Galaţi while Farul Constanţa will play Petrolul Ploieşti. (VP)
