Universitatea Cluj vs Mioveni
Football: Romanian Liga 1
Venue: "Cluj Arena", Cluj
Sunday 18th December - Kickoff time: 18:00 GMT+2

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Universitatea Cluj (8th W-7 D-6 L-4)

“U” Cluj made a good season and maintained a top 5 position until a few stages back, when starting with a 3-1 loss to rivals CFR Cluj, Universitatea were not able to win the upcoming three games either.

They’ve played against Otelul Galati and FC Vaslui at home and could have lost both games with the same score (0-1), if Nigerian striker Tony wouldn’ve scored a 90th minute goal against Otelul. Vaslui took all three points thanks to a 85th minute goal by Adailton.

Universitatea only scored 3 goals in their last 5 home games, so this match against Mioveni, the team that has the worst goal balance from the league could be just what they needed to regain their confidence and redeem themselves in front of their fans.

Universitatea’s home record:

10.12.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 17 U Cluj 0 - 1 FC Vaslui
27.11.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 15 U Cluj 1 - 1 Otelul Galati
29.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 12 U Cluj 0 - 0 Dinamo
16.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 10 U Cluj 1 - 0 FC Brasov
24.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 8 U Cluj 1 - 0 Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt

Mioveni(18th W-2 D-2 L-13)

Liga 1 could be left with 17 teams from the second part of the championship as Mioveni’s boss announced that he’ll no longer financially support this team.

Mioveni is on the bottom of the table, only collecting 8 points from 17 games. The owner’s frustration comes from the fact that he brought players with good CV’s like Nicolae Dica who played for Steaua and scored goals in the Champions League or ex-Dinamo midfielder Andrei Margaristescu, but these players are already 30+ years old and only a couple of years left of their careers.

Before this match overpaid players like Nicolae Dica, Ciprian Tanasa, Mihai Dina, Andrei Margaritescu and Adrian Neaga have all been told to find new teams, so their squad against Universitatea will be quite unique.

Under these conditions, Mioveni’s disastrous away record could only get worse. Mioveni has played 8 games on the road and only won 1 point, losing 7 games, conceding 25 goals and scoring 2.

Mioveni’s away record:

02.12.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 16 CFR Cluj 3 - 0 Dacia Mioveni
19.11.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 14 FC Brasov 4 - 0 Dacia Mioveni
31.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 12 Concordia Chiajna 3 - 1 Dacia Mioveni
14.10.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 10 Rapid 4 - 0 Dacia Mioveni
23.09.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 8 Otelul Galati 0 - 0 Dacia Mioveni

The betting verdict

I’m not sure what can possibly go wrong for Universitatea in this match, they should comfortably win against Mioveni’s best line-up, but under these conditions with the hosts in a desperate situation I think they should score at least 3 times.

Universitatea may not be in their best form, but they’ve met some tough teams lately, so this match against Mioveni could just be the perfect one to get back on track.

The Pick :

Universitatea Cluj 3-0 Mioveni

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Universitatea to win at 1.25 Ladbrokes
Confidence: 9/10

HANDICAP BETTING :

Try Universitatea AH -2 at 2.05 Bet365
Confidence: 6/10