Dinamo and Petrolul faced each other in the 24th stage of the Superliga, final score 1-1, in a match with different objectives for the two teams.
Zeljko Kopic’s team needed a win to climb to first place, while the people from Ploiești came to Bucharest with the idea of getting at least one point, which was visible from the first minutes.
Dinamo started strongly and was close to a goal in the 4th minute, when the Bălbarău goalkeeper rejected a ball to Mărginean, but his header missed the goal. Ten minutes later, Musi made a nice individual move, easily got past the opposing defenders, but his shot again went wide of the bar.
The opportunities continued for the “red dogs”
In the 21st minute, Mărginean tried to finish at the short corner, but Bălbarău intervened as a rescuer, and in the 27th minute Karamoko shot strongly from the box, but the ball went well over the goal.
On the other side, Petrol was unable to create danger in Dinamo’s goal and, in many moments, tried to slow down the game. Thus, despite the clear dominance of the hosts, the first half ended goalless, score 0-0.
Dinamo controlled the game after the break as well, but without the same efficiency as in the first half. Petrolul had the first important chance only in the 58th minute, when Chică-Roşa shot at the short corner, and Epassy rejected in the corner.
The opening score came in the 64th minute. Armstrong took advantage of a fast phase and sent a strong shot from a short distance, with no chance for the Bălbarău goalkeeper.
Epassy did it badly!
Leading the table, Petrolul came out to play and put pressure. In the 74th minute, Epassy had a difficult intervention on Ricardinho’s shot, but the end brought the surprise. In the 82nd minute, the Dynamo goalkeeper made a big mistake, dropping the ball, and after a cross, Gicu Grozav took advantage and equalized.
Dinamo did not manage to score until the end and only won by one point. Kopic’s team thus reached 45 points and occupies the 3rd place, tied with Rapid and one point behind the University of Craiova. Petrol collected 21 points and climbed to 12th position, above Unirea Slobozia, thanks to the goal difference.
The goalkeeper’s explanation
“We are disappointed. It’s not my first mistake, but I hope I won’t do it again. I think we deserved to win because my teammates fought a lot. It was a cross, I decided to go out, and when I was in the air I couldn’t control the ball. You have to be ready the whole match, but things like that can happen.
You have to fix them. It is difficult, we have games ahead of us. We will continue to work. Kopic was both angry and pleased with our game. It’s disappointing that we go home with only one point, not three!”, submitted Devis Epassy, according to digisport.ro.
