Steaua Bucuresti v Concordia Chiajna
Football: Romanian Liga 1
Venue: "National Areana", Bucharest
Sunday 6th November - Kickoff time: 21:30 GMT+2

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Steaua (8th W-5 D-4 L-3)

After suffering a humiliating defeat in Israel against Maccabi Haifa (5-0), Steaua managed to redeem themselves in front of 40000 fans at the National Arena winning the re-match with 4-2.

Steaua had an excellent start and they were up 2-0 in the beginning of the match, but Maccabi fought back and equalized. Striker Florin Costea was sent off and Steaua was heading for another defeat, but they showed great spirit in 10 men and managed to score twice to secure the win.

Steaua is 8th in the domestic league, but they have a decent home record, the away games are the ones dragging them down with only one win in 6 games. At home, Steaua has a 4-1-1 record with 11 goals scored and 4 conceded.

Coach Ilie Stan faces some squad issues, with two of his central defenders ruled out and so is Tatu, the striker who broke the deadlock in the match against Maccabi.

Steaua’s home record:

24.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 11 Steaua 0 - 0 Rapid
02.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 9 Steaua 2 - 1 Otelul Galati
18.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 7 Steaua 1 - 2 Pandurii Tg. Jiu
28.08.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 5 Steaua 2 - 0 FCM Târgu-Mureş
14.08.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 3 Steaua 2 - 1 U Cluj

Concordia (16th W-2 D-3 L-7)

Concordia managed to climb up from the bottom of the table and swapped places with CS Mioveni, a team that they’ve beat in the previous round with 3-1.

Mioveni took the lead thanks to Dica’s penalty, but the same player committed a fault for which he was sent off and the guests played 75 minutes in 10 men, which allowed Concordia to score three times and secure their second victory in 12 games.

Prior to that game, Concordia only had 6 points in 11 games, the worst start of the championship a team had in the last three years.

Concordia is one of the four teams that have not managed to win a game on the road, they actually only scored one goal in six games, but collected 3 points from as many draws.

Ex-Dinamo striker Alexandru Baltoi is the man to watch, he always plays with an extra ambition when he faces Steaua and he is Concordia’s top scorer with three goals to date.

Concordia’s away form:

22.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 11 Vointa Sibiu 1 - 0 Concordia Chiajna
01.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 9 Dinamo 2 - 0 Concordia Chiajna
16.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 7 Ceahlaul 0 - 0 Concordia Chiajna
11.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 6 U Cluj 1 - 1 Concordia Chiajna
21.08.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 4 Rapid 2 - 0 Concordia Chiajna

The Betting Verdict

Despite missing some players, especially in the defensive compartment, Steaua showed a lot of enthusiasm against Maccabi Haifa and they are actually the first Romanian team to win on the National Arena.

Concordia, playing there will be quite intimidating, even if there won’t be 40000 fans as they were against Maccabi, but they are not used to play in front of more than 4-5000 spectators.

There is an obvious value difference between the two, Concordia’s coach Laurentiu Dinita is at his debut as a coach and it will be hard to lead his team towards another season in the first league. Steaua started the championship with many moments of hesitation, but these are the games they have to win in order to get their confidence back and climb some positions on the table.

The Pick :

Steaua Bucuresti 2-0 Concordia Chiajna

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Steaua -1.5 AH at 1.86 Pinnacle