The University of Craiova – FCSB will be played on Sunday from 19:00, the confrontation will count for the 7th round of the League 1 play-off. In the round of this play-off, on “Național Arena”, “red- the blues ”prevailed with the score of 4-1.
The duel in Bănie is by far the headliner of this round. For Oltenia, the stakes of the three points are huge considering that Cristiano Bergodi’s team is the leader in the play-off with a length over CFR Cluj. Or in the conditions in which from this edition of the League 1 play-off there are still four stages to be played, the Oltenians are doomed to victory with FCSB in order to keep their eye in the standings even after this stage and hope that at the time of the game with CFR Cluj from the last stage will approach the duel from the first place. Even if they have no chance for the title considering that they are 10 and 9 points away from the first two places in the ranking, the “red-blues” have every reason to shoot for a positive result in Bănie considering that they have not yet solved the equation of presence in the next edition of the Europa League. In the ranking, FCSB is on the 4th place with 28 points, one point behind Astra, which is on the podium, which is true, the Giurgiu team not having the right to participate in the European cups, but tied with FC Botoșani, a team that on this end of play -off is advantaged by the program and will play three of the four remaining games on its own field.
-The university has 4 consecutive victories in the play-off, a series that propelled the Oltenians to the first place in League 1;
-FCSB is without a post-pandemic victory in the play-offs with two defeats and two draws;
-The selection “both score and at least 3 goals in the match” was the winner in the last 4 matches of the Oltenia championship;
-FCSB prevailed in the last 6 “direct” in three of them not receiving a goal;
-The last Oltenian success against FCSB dates from October 21, 2018, score 2-1 in Bănie;
As can be seen in the statistics presented above, the Oltenians have developed in recent years a complex with FCSB, the youngsters surrendering in the last six “direct” duels with the “red-blues”. Moreover, the success we mentioned earlier in October 2018 is the only success of the youth against Bucharest in the last 20 official confrontations, FCSB taking into account 16 victories while three other matches ended in a draw. It remains to be seen whether Cristiano Bergodi’s Italian school is above that of Gigi Becali’s Pipera, the financier still being in doubt about the name of the “principal” to sit on the bench at this match, the “Christian” Vintilă being demoted “second”.
PREDICTION: U Craiova to win @ 1,83
