Sports Weekend

Florin Orban, 26.07.2019, 11:50

The first leg of
the second Europa League qualifying round was held on Thursday. Of the Romanian
teams in competition, FCSB had the best results, having defeated the Armenian
side Alashkert 3-nil in an away match. The best player on the pitch for the
Bucharest side in the first half of the match was the goal-keeper Andrei Vlad,
who had two great saves. The Romanian vice-champions took firm command of the
match in the second half, scoring all their three goals. Florin Tanase scored
first, 60 minutes into the match, followed by Iulian Cristea eight minutes
later and Florinel Coman in the 81st minute. The second leg will be
held on the 1st of August in Giurgiu. If they make it to the third
qualifying round, FCSB will be playing either the Czech side Mlada Boleslav or
the Kazakh side Ordabasy Shymkent. In the first leg, the two
sides drew 1-all.

Universitatea Craiova also
stand good chances of advancing to the next round. In the first leg away in
Gyor, they held the Hungarian side Honved Budapest to a goalless draw. Next
Thursday’s match at home in Craiova will be decisive. If they qualify, Craiova
will be facing the Greek side AEK Athens.

Viitorul Constanta, the
third side to represent Romania in the second Europa League qualifying round,
only have theoretical chances of advancing to the next round. They lost 3-6
away to the Belgian side Ghent. The goals of the Romanian side were scored by
Sebastian Mladen in the 21st minute and Bogdan Tiru, in the 56th
and the 61st minutes. The Belgian side were already leading by 5
goals to 1 at half-time and were even up 6 to 1 50 minutes into the match. The
hosts then relaxed into a lower gear and Viitorul scored twice. The Romanian
side were even close to scoring a fourth goal on minutes 67, when the
goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski spectacularly defended a header from Denis Dragus.

Back to the domestic
championship, the third leg of the first Romanian league is held over the
weekend. On Friday, Poli Timisoara take on Academica from Clinceni, while FC
Voluntari take on Astra Giurgiu. On Saturday, Gaz Metan Medias are playing at
home against Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe, while CFR Cluj receive Dinamo Bucharest. On
Sunday, Universitatea Craiova face Chindia Targoviste and Viitorul face FC
Hermannstadt. On Monday, in the last match of this leg, FCSB take on FC
Botosani. After two legs played, Viitorul and Craiova top the ranking table
with 6 points each.