Four Romanian teams this week will be proving their mettle in the European competitions\u2019 third preliminary round.<\/p>\n
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Steaua Bucharest have already set off for Kazakhstan, as on Wednesday they will be taking on Kazakh side Aktobe, in the first leg of the tie that could earn Steaua a place in the Champions League\u2019s playoff session. With Constantin Gilca at the helm, Steaua had a lackluster run earlier this season. Though defeated in the game against Astra Giurgiu in Romania\u2019s Supercup, Steaua won both games against Rapid, snatching a 2-1 win in the League\u2019s Cup and a 3-1 win in the domestic championship\u2019s first leg. However, Steaua failed to live up to their performance in the previous season, probably also because of the significantly thinner lineup in the wake of the summer transfer season.<\/p>\n
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Three teams represent Romania in the Europa League\u2019s third preliminary round. Two of them will be playing their games on home turf this coming Thursday. Astra Giurgiu will be taking on Czech side Slovan Liberec. Astra\u2019 s run so far has been excellent: after the win against Steaua in the Supercup, last season\u2019s vice-champions also snatched a valuable 4-1 win against FC Brasov in the League Cup and a 2-nil win against Concordia Chiajna, in a game counting towards the domestic championship\u2019s first leg.<\/p>\n
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Southern Romanian team Petrolul from Ploiesti will also be taking on a Czech team, Victoria Plzen, a team that last season had an excellent international run, including a participation in the Champions League\u2019s group stage. The Romanians\u2019 lineup, however, is a strong one, and that is all the more so since it includes one of the best footballers of the last decade, Adrian Mutu. Earlier this season Petrolul suffered a 1-nil defeat against Unversitatea Cluj, in the League Cup, yet they succeeded a 1-nil win against FC Brasov, in a game counting towards the domestic championship\u2019 s first leg.<\/p>\n
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CFR Cluj will be traveling to Minsk, in Belarus, to play their first leg against local side Dinamo. CFR also failed to go past the League Cup\u2019s eighth finals, since they were thrashed by CSMS Iasi, 4-2. However, CFR Cluj snatched a precious 4-nil win against Ceahlaul from Piatra Neamt, in the domestic championship\u2019s first leg.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We bring you a preview of Romanian football teams’ participation in the European Cups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-111344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n