Romanian
\nfootball has reported a new all-time low record, this time in Champions League.
\nFor the first time in history, the Romanian champion was knocked out in the
\nfirst preliminary round. On Wednesday, CFR Cluj lost 3-4 the match played on home
\nturf against the Armenian champions, Piunik Yerevan. The match was played on
\nhome turf and the final score was set after extra time and the penalty
\nshootout. The score in the first leg had been 0-0. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The match
\nhad a cliffhanging ending. Bismark Adjei-Boateng of Ghana had scored the first
\ngoal for CFR on minute 6. Then, for the next 80 minutes, the team from Cluj
\ndominated the game, missing a few good scoring opportunities, all denied by
\nArmenian goalkeeper David Yurchenko, perhaps the best player on the field on
\nWednesday. On Minute 89, Piunik evened the odds with a goal scored by Zoran Gaji\u0107
\nof Serbia. At 1-1 the match was pushed into extra time. CFR scored again on
\nminute 94, but Piunik was awarded a penalty kick on minute 107, when Andrei
\nBurc\u0103 performed an illegal tackle on David Davidian in the penalty area.
\nHovhanes Harutiunian executed the penalty kick, but it was saved by Cristian B\u0103lgr\u0103dean.
\nOn minute 119, however, Zoran Gaji\u0107 made it 2-2, and the match now moved to the
\npenalty shootout. CFR missed two penalty kicks, Piunik scored every penalty
\nkick and won 4-3.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Failure to
\nqualify to the Champions League second preliminary round also deals a heavy
\nfinancial blow to CFR Cluj. The top inter-club competition offers the highest
\nprizes, worth millions of EUR, to teams that qualify to superior stages. Last
\nyear, for instance, after defeating Borac Banja Luka of Bosnia and qualifying
\nto the second round, CFR was awarded 660 thousand EUR. Had it qualified to the
\ngroup phase, the Romanian champions would have won over 15 million EUR. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Following
\nWednesday’s result, Piunik Yerevan will now play F91 Dudelange of Luxembourg in
\nthe second preliminary round of Champions League. CFR Cluj will play in the
\nsecond preliminary round of Conference League, taking on Inter Club d’Escaldes
\nof Andorra. The first leg will be played on July 21 on home turf and the return
\nleg on July 28 away from home. (VP)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of the most important sporting events<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":118169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[41774],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-119281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-sports-flash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n