CFR Cluj v Universitatea Cluj
Football: Romanian Liga 1
Venue: "Dr. Constantin Radulescu", Cluj
Saturday 19th November - Kickoff time: 20:30 GMT+2

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CFR Cluj (3rd W-8 D-2 L-3)

It’s the first time when the two rivals from Cluj meet under these circumstances, both being quite well placed on the table. CFR will be looking to at least keep their position, they are one point above their rivals in the third place.

There won’t be many supporters at this match, to limit the number of away fans (which would have been significantly higher than the home fans) the hosts decided to set ridiculously high prices and sent out free invitations to their sponsors and fans. Universitatea’s supporters will have to pay 10 times the usual price to see the game.

CFR could have taken the lead in Liga 1, but they failed to defeat Dinamo in their previous home game. Dinamo took the lead early on, but CFR showed some class and scored twice and were heading to a nice victory when the referee awarded Dinamo a penalty that would not have been awarded in any other European league. Niculae finished them up with a 90th minute goal and Dinamo took away all three points and extended their lead.

Jorge Costa will have his full squad at his disposal and will go for the same 4-3-3 system which was very productive so far, CFR having the highest number of goals scored from the league (28).

CFR’s home record:

05.11.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 13 CFR Cluj 2 - 3 Dinamo
22.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 11 CFR Cluj 2 - 1 Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt
02.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 9 CFR Cluj 1 - 1 Petrolul Ploiesti
19.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 7 CFR Cluj 2 - 0 FC Vaslui
26.08.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 5 CFR Cluj 6 - 1 Sportul Studentesc

Universitatea Cluj (4th W-7 D-4 L-2)

This is the most important game in a season for Universitatea’s fans and it’s well known that despite CFR won a lot of trophies lately and even played in the UCL, the “Red Hats” are still in majority in both Cluj and I could say Transylvania as well.

Even though until now only their fans have been superior to the opposition, now Universitatea actually has a decent team and with a few add-ons in the winter transfer period they could fight for a podium finish.

Universitatea has been dominant at home and as I said before, I can’t see more than one or maximum two teams get away with all points from Cluj Arena, no one did it until now and they only conceded 3 goals in 6 games. However, things are not that bright when playing on the road, Universitatea already lost two games (against Steaua and Pandurii) and conceded 8 goals.

The reason behind this is that most of the time the home team has the initiative and “U” is not a counter-attack team. They have players in front with a lot of skills, but speed is not one of them. Therefore, they are much stronger when playing at home and play positional football.

Adrian Cristea and Tony are the man to watch, Cristea despite not being a striker is the team’s top scorer with 5 goals so far.

Universitatea’s away record:

06.11.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 13 Sportul Studentesc 2 - 4 U Cluj
21.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 11 Pandurii Tg. Jiu 1 - 0 U Cluj
01.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 9 Gaz Metan Medias 2 - 5 U Cluj
19.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 7 FCM Târgu-Mureş 1 - 1 U Cluj
27.08.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 5 Astra Ploiesti 0 - 0 U Cluj

The Betting Verdict

As seen on their results above, Universitatea were not shy scoring goals in some games, but they’ve also conceded goals in almost every game, mainly because their central defenders are considered slow. They are hard to beat in air, but they can be put in difficulty with fast actions.

On the other hand, CFR has the players to exploit that weakness, Sougou and Weldon are the strikers that could make a lot of damage in the visitor’s defense, they already scored 11 goals combined. I would say that CFR still has the better squad at the moment and are favorites to win the game and I’m saying this being an Universitatea’s fan. However my main option will be both teams to score as it happened 4 out of 5 in the previous CFR’s home games.

The Pick :

CFR Cluj 2-1 Universitatea Cluj

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Both teams to score at 1.91 Bet365
Confidence: 8/10 (Main Bet)

Take CFR Cluj to win at 2.00 Bet365
Confidence: 7/10