The latest from domestic football
The fight for the domestic football champion title has taken a new twist, as Universitatea Craiova's win in this past Sunday's match against leader team CFR Cluj means that CFR are only one point clear of runner-up team Universitatea. Under the circumstances, CFR Cluj and Universitatea are the only teams that can still claim the title. 3rd-placed team Astra Giurgiu are 8 points away from the top-of-the-table team, while FC Botosani and FCSB, the 4th and the 5th placed team, respectively, are 9 points away from the leader.
This coming Friday, Universitatea Craiova travel to Medias, in the west, to take on local side Gaz Metan. The latter team are bottom-of the-table in Group1, although their trail in the final stage was a no-defeat one, in matches against CFR, FCSB and Astra Giurgiu. On Saturday, FCSB face FC Botosani in Bucharest. The match is a crucial one, since a domestic championship win entitles the winner to securing a position in Europa League. FCSB also stand the chance to grab Romania's Cup, since they have no problem going through to the Cup's final.
On Sunday, CFR travel to Giurgiu for a match against Astra; it is a no-stake fixture, since Astra have serious financial problems, payment of wages is long overdue, while for the 2020-2021 season, the club has not been granted a UEFA license. Officially, that means Astra are banned from playing in the European cups, irrespective of their place according to the domestic championship's final rankings.
In the domestic championship's Group 2, attention-grabbing are Dinamo Bucharest. A former semifinalist in the European Champions' Cup, Dinamo are at the bottom of the table and are nearly facing relegation. That would be a dismal absolute first in the club's 72-year long history. In Group 2's ongoing edition, Dinamo sustained defeats in all four games they have played so far. Two fixtures are pending for Dinamo, the match against Chindia Targoviste and the match against FC Hermannstadt from Sibiu. On Thurdsay, Dinamo play Viitorul Constanta, in the southeastern Romanian town of Ovidiu.
(Translation by Eugen Nasta)
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