The Romanian champions qualified for
the round of 32 of the Europa League after a 2-0 home win against Scottish side
Celtic Glasgow. Andrei Burca put CFR in the lead on 48 minutes and Croatian
Damjan Djokovic added a second in the 70th minute of the game
allowing the Romanians to take revenge for the first match, which went to the
Scots also 2-0.
With 12 points out of the 6 games
played in group E, CFR managed to set a record for a Romanian eleven in the
groups of a European cup. Celtic tops the group’s ranking with 13 points,
Italian side Lazio comes third with six and French team Rennes is the last in
the group with 4 points.
CFR Cluj has thus obtained the only
significant performance of the Romanian football in 2019. We recall that
Romania’s national football side failed to qualify for Euro 2020, being only
ahead of the representatives of Malta and the Faeroe Islands. This is CFR’s
second qualification for a European cup after the one in 2012 when they came
third in their Champions League group.
Back then the Romanians managed a
1-0 win against English side Manchester United on Old Trafford. However, in the
Europa League’s round of 32, CFR lost to Internazionale Milan 2-0 away and 3-0
at home. Experts believe that the latest CFR performance was possible thanks to
a valuable and homogeneous line-up and the expertise of headcoach Dan Petrescu,
one of the best Romanian technicians in Romania’s first football league. This
combination functioned perfectly in Europe, but wasn’t enough to ensure their
first position in the Romanian championship, which is now occupied by Astra
Giurgiu with two points more.
Since the beginning of this season
the champions of last year have conceded defeat in four matches so their task
in the first Romanian football league will not be an easy one. Things are going
to be even more difficult in Europa League where the Romanians stand chances to
be pitted against top teams like Internazionale Milan or Ajax Amsterdam.
(translated by bill)