Romanian League
2012-05-08 - Universitatea Cluj vs CFR Cluj
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Romania : Liga 1
Venue: "Cluj Arena", Cluj-Napoca
Tuesday 8th May – Kickoff time: 21:30 GMT+2
Universitatea (7th W-10 D-14 L-6)
Universitatea recorded their 14th draw against Sportul Studentesc over the weekend and lost their 6th position on the table to Otelul Galati.
There is not much to play for in these remaining games from Universitatea’s perspective, however they’ll do whatever they can to stop rivals CFR Cluj from winning another title.
In 2008 CFR needed a victory in the last round of the championship in order to win the title and ironically the match was played on their rivals turf. Universitatea failed to avoid the defeat and CFR celebrated their first title in history at Universitatea’s stadium which was quite humiliating.
“U” Cluj has a decent home record (7-5-3), but since 2007 they haven’t recorded a victory against their rivals. This is however the first match played on the newly built stadium called Cluj Arena.
Universitatea’s home record:
05.05.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 30 U Cluj 1 - 1 Sportul Studentesc
28.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 28 U Cluj 0 - 1 Pandurii Tg. Jiu
16.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 26 U Cluj 3 - 0 Gaz Metan Medias
02.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 24 U Cluj 3 - 1 FCM Târgu-Mureş
21.03.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 22 U Cluj 3 - 1 Astra Ploiesti
CFR Cluj (1st W-18 D-7 L-5)
CFR recorded a huge victory over the weekend against Dinamo Bucuresti and made an important step towards winning their third Liga 1 title.
Striker Pantelis Kapetanos from close range netted the only goal of the match in the dying minutes and put CFR Cluj in pole position to win the championship.
However, CFR will have to face rivals Universitatea Cluj and Steaua Bucuresti in the last round, which means that the title race is still open.
After the humiliating home defeat against Concordia Chiajna, CFR recorded three consecutive victories, all to nil. Greek striker Pantelis Kapetanos scored the decisive goal in CFR’s last two games and he should be the main threat for Universitatea’s defense in this one as well.
CFR’s away record:
05.05.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 30 Dinamo 0 - 1 CFR Cluj
28.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 28 Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt 0 - 2 CFR Cluj
13.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 26 Petrolul Ploiesti 1 - 1 CFR Cluj
02.04.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 24 FC Vaslui 1 - 1 CFR Cluj
21.03.2012 Liga 1 Etapa 22 Sportul Studentesc 1 - 1 CFR Cluj
The Betting Verdict
I support “U” Cluj and I’ll be attending this match hopefully along with 30 000 others, but I doubt that the stadium will be full (several reasons, won’t elaborate). However, this doesn’t mean that I also think that Universitatea will win the match.
Yes, the motivation that comes with a game against CFR Cluj should be enough to see a determined Universitatea side, but they haven’t proved this season that they have a strong enough team to beat the top sides from Liga 1. From the top six they’ve only beaten Rapid at home.
CFR looked like they would settle for a draw in their previous match against Dinamo Bucuresti, but they were lucky enough to collect all points after a 90th minute corner kick. I think that a draw here would suit them, their schedule is quite favorable.
I think that the draw is the most likely outcome of this derby, but I cannot overlook the fact that CFR’s last 9 games ended with less than three goals scored, five of those with the 1-1 score. It should be a tense match which means that this is likely to be another low scoring affair.
The Pick :
Universitatea Cluj 1-1 CFR Cluj
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Under 2.5 goals at 1.81 at PinnacleConfidence: 8/10
