The University of Craiova and the University of Cluj fought last night to go to Europe. The Craiova players dramatically qualified for the Football Conference League, after defeating the Cluj University team with a score of 5-4, in the penalty shootout, at the “Ion Oblemenco” Stadium, in the play-off for this European competition , in which the score was equal after the regular 90 minutes (0-0) and after extra time (1-1), writes AGERPRES.
University of Craiova – University of Cluj PHOTO: Facebook/UCVOficial
The goalkeeper of Craiova, Laurenţiu Popescu, was masterful, defending the shots of Dan Nistor and Filip Ilie, on penalties, after Cluj had the advantage, the goalkeeper Edvinas Gertmonas defending the shot of Raul Silva.
The match between the third-placed University of Craiova and the 10th-placed Cluj was marked by the stakes and the lack of freshness of both teams, especially the team coached by Constantin Gâlcă.
The first opportunity of the match belonged to the Craiova team (9), but Gertmonas rejected Alexandru Creţu's shot in the corner.
“The University of Cluj was very close to opening the scoring, the goalkeeper Popescu rejected the ball headed by the Argentinian Federico Anselmo. Creţu went past the goal again (29), but did not reach a ball in front of Gertmonas.
In the second half, the people from Craiova had a goal (58), after a disturbance in the small square of Cluj, through Elvir Koljic.
Popescu was fantastic on Dorinel Oancea's volley (61), after which Gjoko Zajkov blocked Robert Silaghi's restart. Popescu also rejected the shot of his former colleague Ovidiu Bic (67).
Gertmonas stood out in the other goal (71), on the restart of Raul Silva.
The guests had the best chance to score (86), but Valentin Gheorghe, alone with Popescu, sent it over the goal. Cluj University was close to avoiding overtime, but Popescu had a good intervention on the Ivorian Kevin Doukoure's shot (90+4), from the edge of the box.
In overtime, Popescu was tested by Dan Nistor (103), with a shot from outside the box.
In min. 118, Valentin Gheorghe fouled Lyes Houri's shot in the box, and the referee awarded a penalty for the University of Craiova, converted by the French player (120).
The University of Cluj attacked, but the University of Craiova recovered and went on the counterattack, Koljic scored, but his success (120+2) was canceled by VAR for offside.
The Craiova players thought they were winners earlier than they were and offered a free kick from their own half, the ball was thrown into the box, and Jovan Markovic hit Bogdan Mitrea in an attempt to repel (120+5). The video referee intervened and Bîrsan dictated a penalty for “the red caps”converted by Dan Nistor (120+10), former Craiova player, who sent the match to penalty kicks.
Koljic, Mekvabişvili, Creţu, Houri and Zajkov converted for Craiova University, and Bic, Mitrea, Chipciu and Thalisson Kelven scored for Cluj.
The first shot of the match was given by Gheorghe Ciurea, former champion with Craiova University in 1991.
FCSB (champion) will represent Romania in the Champions League, Corvinul Hunedoara (winner of the Romanian Cup) will play in the Europa League, while CFR Cluj (second place in the Superleague) and Universitatea Craiova (winner of the tie) will play in the Conference League.
University of Craiova – University of Cluj 1-1 (0-0, 0-0), after extra time; 5-4, on penalty kicks, “Ion Oblemenco” Stadium – Craiova
They scored: Lyes Houri (120 – penalty), respectively Dan Nistor (120+10 – penalty).
They executed the penalty kicks in order: Elvir Koljic 1-0 (goal), Ovidiu Bic 1-1 (goal), Raul Silva 1-1 (miss – saved by Edvinas Gertmonas), Bogdan Mitrea 1-2 (goal), Anzor Mekvabişvili 2-2 (goal), Alexandru Chipciu 2-3 (goal), Alexandru Creţu 3-3 (goal), Thalisson Kelven 3-4 (goal), Lyes Houri 4-4 (goal), Dan Nistor 4-4 (miss – Laurenţiu Popescu defends), Gjoko Zajkov 5-4 (goal), Filip Ilie 5-4 (miss – saved by Laurentiu Popescu).
Referee: Marcel Birsan;
assistant referees: Radu Adrian Ghinguleac, Valentin Avram (all from Bucharest);
fourth official: Andrei Moroiţă (Ploiesti)
Video Referee: Cătălin Popa (Pitesti); video assistant referee: Iulian Dima (Bucharest)
Observers: Eduard Dumitrescu (Pitesti) – CCA, Eduard Alexandru (Ploiesti) – LPF
