“We have to be very careful”

Today, the coach of the champion has in front of him an opponent who always created problems for him in the last games. Dan Petrescu has not left the stadium of the University of Craiova victorious for almost 3 years. CFR prevailed in August 2020 with 3-1, through the goals of Vinicius, Boli and Deac.

Since that match, Petrescu had 4 trips to Craiova and recorded 3 defeats and a draw against Mihai Rotaru’s team. CFR prevailed on the lawn of the University of Craiova in 2021, but then Edward Iordănescu was the coach.

“Ivan, the most important player. Mateiu and Screciu bring balance to the team”

Dan Petrescu is afraid of Andrei Ivan. He scored two goals in the match on February 11, the last trip to Craiova. “He is the team’s top scorer in recent years, not only this year, and in recent years the best player from Craiova was Ivan. He is also in very good form in the championship and clearly their most important player, but there are about 7-8 other high-level players and we have to be very careful about them. And at Baiaram and at Markovic and Koljic, who recovered, Ișfan, Câmpanu… They have a lot of good attacking players, and the two defenders, Mateiu and Screciu, seem to have found the best formula with them. I bring balance to the team and that’s why to Craiova”, said the coach.

Dramatic endings for CFR

But the coincidence that should give Dan Petrescu something to think about is related to the minutes in which CFR was always vulnerable in the trips from Craiova. Cluj received a goal after the 85th minute in each of the last 3 games played at “Ion Oblemenco”. Ivan made it 2-0 in the 86th minute of the last game and the 2022 matches had dramatic endings for the Gruia outfit. Rogulic scored the winning goal in the 90th+6th minute of the game last April (3-2), and Gustavo also equalized in the 6th minute of overtime in the game played on February 5th (1-1).