UTA Arad and Universidad Craiova meet at Stadionul Francisc von Neuman, in a match for the 13th round of League I. This will be the first direct confrontation between these two teams, as they have never met before. The home / away condition deserves particular attention, since despite this being a match between 6th and 2nd in the league table, it is actually a clash between the 14th ranked in home games and the 2nd away.
UTA :
The home team is currently in 6th position, with 17 points won, after 4 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses. In the penultimate match, they won away against CFR Cluj by (0‑1). In the last match, they lost in an away match against FCSB by (3‑0). This is a team that tends to achieve more positive results away from home than at home, since they have won 12 points away and 5 at home, with 8 goals scored and 8 suffered as away, against 4 goals scored and 6 suffered at home. For the championship, UTA Arad won 5 points out of 15 possible, after 1 victory, 2 draws and 2 losses in the last 5 matches they played in their stadium. His attack has scored regularly, as he has scored goals in 8 of the last 10 matches for this competition. In 12 games in this tournament, he suffered the first goal 4 times and never got the comeback.
UTA Arad arrives for this match after a 3-0 loss to the FCSB in the 12th round of the Romanian league. Dennis Man, Florinel Coman and Darius Olaru scored the local goals, with no response from the visitors, who ended the match outnumbered with the expulsion -second yellow- of Nelut Rosu. With this result, the home team scored seventeen points and ranks sixth in the leaderboard.
The team led by László Balint must present themselves in a 4-4-2 formation, favoring the defensive organization and counterattacks, mostly channeled through the side corridors. The two most advanced players responsible for making sense of the opposing defensive structure are Vlad Morar and Ioan Hora. As for the center of the field, it should be formed by David Raúl Miculescu, Cristian Albu, Denis Rusu and Cristian Melinte. For this game, the coach of the home team has all the players available.
CS U Craiova:
The visiting team is currently in 2nd position, with 28 points won, after 9 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. In the penultimate match, they tied in an away match against Botoşani, by (0‑0). In the last match, they won at home against Gaz Metan Mediaş by (3‑1). This is a team that tends to achieve more positive results away from home than at home, as they won 16 points away and 12 at home, with 9 goals scored and 2 suffered as away, against 8 goals scored and 4 suffered at home. In their last away match, for Cupa României, they won (0‑5) against Progresul Spartac. In its last 6 away matches for the championship, the Craiova University registers 5 victories and 1 draw, for which it conquered 16 points out of 18 possible.
For this competition, they have not lost any of the last 6 away matches. His attack has scored regularly, as he has scored goals in 7 of the last 10 matches for this competition. This is a team that tends to score many times first: it opened the scoring in 9 of its last 12 games for League I, of these 9 it reached the half-time advantage in 6 and always managed to maintain the advantage until the end of the 90 ‘.
The Universitatea Craiova comes to this match with a victory, 3-1, against Gaz Metan, adding the third consecutive match without losing the championship, where they are third with twenty-eight points to two behind the FCSB leader. Alexandru Cicaldau, Reagy Ofosu and Cristian Barbut pointed out the “goals” of the victory. Nicolao Dumitru cut it down for the visitors to fifty minutes.
For this game, away from home, coach Cristiano Bergodi must keep the team in the usual tactical design, 4-3-3 to promote ball possession and positional attacks. Reagy Ofosu, Ivan Mamut and Cristian Barbut must be the main figures in the attack of the visitors. For its part, the central corridor must be formed by Alexandru Cicaldau Vladimir Screciu and Dan Nistor. Apparently, the Craiova University coach can count on all the units.
PREDICTION: U Craiova to win @ 1,58
