January 27, 2025
Today was last day of round 23 in the 2024/25 in the Romania Superliga, and the second week since the resumption after the winter break.
These diaries last covered the Superliga at the start of August with a round-up of week 3.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2024/08/review-romania-202425-superliga-week-3.html
The Superliga contains 16 sides who play each other home and away for a 30-game regular season. After this point the top 6 form the play-off round for 10 more matches with 50% of the points from the regular season carried forward, whilst the bottom 10 compete in the play-out round for 9 additional matches to determine two sides to enter a play-off for a place in the Europa Conference League, plus the two sides automatically relegated, and the two sides to enter the relegation play-offs.
FC Petrolul Ploeisti
Located 50km north of the capital Bucharest, Ploeisti is the 10th largest city in Romania with a population of around 180,000.
Petrolul were formed in 1925 and have won the Romanian Championship four times, the last being in 1965/66. Three National Cups have been won, the most recent in 2012/13.
After being declared bankrupt in 2016, Petrolul have worked their way back up the Romanian pyramid and were champions of Liga II in 2021/22 to return to the Superliga, where they have finished 8th and last season 11th.
Home is the 15,073 capacity Ilie Oana, which was rebuilt in 2011, and their usual colours are all yellow with blue trims. Petrolul have several nicknames, including the Yellow Wolves, The Gasmen and The Oilmen.
Petrolul played Liverpool in the 1966/67 European Cup but despite a 3-1 home win, they exited the competition on away goals. In the 2013/14 Europa League, Petrolul eliminated Vikingur of the Faroe Islands and Vitesse Arnhem before facing Swansea City. Although the second leg was won 2-1, the damage had been done by a 1-5 reverse in Wales.
In 1995/96, Wrexham were the opponents in the European Cup Winners Cup, and Petrolul squeezed through 1-0 on aggregate, whilst their most notable success in Europe was perhaps eliminating Viktoria Plzen from the 2014/15 Europa League.
FC Petrolul This Season
Petrolul started the weekend in 7th place with a 7-11-4 record, behind Rapid Bucharesti on goal difference. Their home record was 4-6-1.
Today was the first home match with ex-Chelsea, Juventus and Fiorentian striker Adrian Mutu ( 77 caps ) in charge. Turkish coach Mehmet Topal ( 81 caps ) was sacked in the winter break after only being appointed in the summer, and Mutu drew his first match, 0-0 at Otelul Galati.
Petrolul started the season well, with just one loss, 1-4 at Dinamo Bucharest, in their opening 11 fixtures to sit in 5th place. However, only four games had been won, Rapid Bucharest ( H 1-0 ), Unirea Slobozia ( A 2-1 ), Botosani ( A 2-0 ) and FC Hermannstadt ( H 4-1 ). They had played four 0-0 draws but had drawn 1-1 at FCSB.
Further victories were registered over Poli Iasi ( H 3-1 ) and Gloria Buzau ( A 1-0 ). A run of six league and cup matches without a win ended with a 2-1 home victory over Unirea Slobozia but that wasn’t enough to keep Topal in his job
Average home attendances so far this season have been 6,238, the 7th best in the division, with the highest being the 9,700 that saw Rapid Bucharest beaten 1-0 at the end of July and summarised in these diaries.
FC Petrolul Squad
Petrolul’s top scorer this season on 8 goals was ex-Arsenal Tula and Sepsi OSK forward Alexandru Tudorie, who joined the club in the summer from UTA Arad. Next on the list was experienced striker Georghe Grozav ( 31 caps ) with 5 goals, which had previously played for Standard Liege and Terek Grozny amongst others.
Midfielder Sergiu Hanca ( 7 caps ) had previously played for Cracovia and Dinamo Bucharest whilst central defender Paul Papp ( 20 caps ) had played Chievo, Sivasspor, Steaua Bucharest as well as Botosani.
Foreign players in the Petrolul squad included Finnish midfielder, Tommi Jyry, who featured in these diaries in 2022 whilst playing for inter Turku, ex-Dunkerque French midfielder Tidiane Keita, ex-Gil Vincente and Voluntari Portuguese defender Ricardinho, whilst centre back Marian Huja was a junior at Watford and played in Denmark for Koge.
Centre-back Yohan Roche had 16 caps for Benin and had played in Turkey for Adanaspor whereas Nigerian striker Christian Irobiso had played in Portugal, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Saudia Arabia as well as Romania.
The goal scorer in the 1-0 win over Rapid, Kosovan Albin Berisha, was sold almost immediately to Hansa Rostock for €150K, whilst Czech keeper Lukas Zima joined FCSB for a reported €250K.
FC Botosani
Botosani is 440km north of the capital Bucharest, and with a population of around 120,000 is the 19th largest city in Romania.
FC Botosani appeared in these diaries in February 2021 when they drew 0-0 at UTA Arad and they went on to finish 8th that season. In the following year they came 12th but last season they only stayed up by winning a relegation play-off against Mioveni.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/02/uta-arad-0-0-fc-botosani-att-0-romania.html
FC Botosani This Season
Botosani started the round in 15th place ( second from bottom ) with a 4-7-11 record, and were 1-3-7 away from home. They were already on their third coach of the season with Bogdan Andone sacked after two games, and Liviu Ciobotariu sacked during the winter break.
The only away win came at Farul Constanza in week 3 when these diaries reported on Stefan Bodisteanu’s winning goal. Botosani seem to enjoy playing against sides from the capital, winning 1-0 at home to FCSB, 2-0 at home to Rapid Bucharesti and drawing 2-2 at Dinamo Bucharest. Their other victory came against UTA Arad, 1-0 at home.
There had only been three weeks during the season when Botosani had been outside the bottom four.
FC Botosani Squad
Four of the team that played against UTA Arad in 2021 were in their squad for today’s match, namely left-back Alexandru Tiganasu, ex- Paris St-Germain French midfielder Hervin Ongenda, Albanian midfielder Enriko Papa and midfielder Eduard Florescu.
Nigerian right back Adams Friday was previously with Armenian side FC Noah, Slovenian defender Michael Pavlovic was previously Olimpija Ljubljana and Koper, Greek keeper Giannis Anetsis had played for AEK Athens and Goteborg, midfielder Aldair was Angolan, whilst full back Rijad Sadiku had played for several sides in his native Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as Moeskroen in Belgium
Centre-half Patrico Matricardi had played for Argentinos Juniors, Rotor Volvograd, Asteras Tripoli and three other sides in Romania and fellow countryman Enzo Lopez had played for Talleres back home and Deportivo Cuenca in Colombia.
Forward Adrian Chica-Rosa was the leading scorer with a paltry three goals.
Matchday Information
The distance between Botosani and Ploiesti is 415km and would take around 5 and a half hours by road.
Tickets for the match ranged between 15 to 60 Lei ( £2.50 to £10 )
The weather at the 17.00 local time kick off ( 15.00 UK ) was sunny and 12 degrees.
Bet365, who live streamed the match, made Petrolul evens favourites, with Botosani at 31/10 and the draw at 2/1,
Petrolul made two changes from the side that played at Arad, with Papp replacing Huja and Irobiso replacing top scorer Tudorie, who was missing from the matchday squad
Botosani made three changes from the side that drew with CFR Cluj last time out, with Eduard Pap replacing Anestis in goal, and captain Andrei Miron and Matricardi coming into the defence at the expense of Pavlovic and Friday
Petrolul were in their usual all yellow whilst Botosani were in all red
Match report
The visitors started brightly with Bodisteanu stepping inside Stefan Radulescu, but his 20-yard shot was straight at keeper Raul Balbarau, who comfortably held onto it. Ploeisti centre-back Papp was shown a yellow card with barely 5 minutes played for a foul on Chica-Rosa 30 yards out, and Alexandru Cimpanu’s left footed free-kick bounced awkwardly. Balbarau took no chances to push the ball off for a corner when it looked to be going narrowly wide anyway.
Two minutes later Cimpanu teed up Bodisteanu but the shot from 20 yards was blocked.
The limited responses from the home side were a cross from Hanca from the right wing but Irobiso clattered into Miron to concede a freekick. In the 8th minute Botosani keeper Pap had to come out of his area to head a long ball off for a throw in.
Against the run of play, Petrolul took the lead. A dangerous cross from Catalin Tolea was put out for corner by Miron. The delivery from Radulescu went beyond the far post where Grozav headed back across goal, and with the defenders standing and watching, Tolea struck the bouncing ball across goal into far corner. 1-0 after 14 minutes.
Botosani looked to hit back right away and from Cimpanu’s left-footed free kick from the right, Papa’s flick on hit a defender and rolled off for a corner. Tiganasu then had two attempts on goal from the edge of area blocked.
Petrolul won another corner which Jyry sent to the near post where Ricardinho’s flicked header reached the unmarked Grozav at far post, who buried header from 6 yards. More slack marking from Botosani and it was now 2-0 with 18 minutes played.
A dreadful piece of defender from Petrolul played a poor clearance to Bodisteanu, who was free inside the area on the left-hand side, but the pull back was poor and gratefully cleared.
Papp played a long ball out of the Petrolul defence for Irobiso to run onto down the right-hand channel and Nigerian striker played a pass inside for Hanca to run onto in space inside the area and slip the ball under the advancing keeper. Offside was given against Irobiso but it was checked by VAR. After a wait of over 4 minutes the goal was awarded ! 3-0 with 28 minutes on the clock
Another yellow card for the Oilmen arrived a couple of minutes later when Tolea slid in late on Papa and Petrolul showed they were content to rough things up as after Bodisteanu and Chica-Rosa showed some nice inter play, Ricardinho hauled Bodisteanu to the floor. Ongenda tried to play in Chica-Rosa inside Ricardinho, but the covering Papp shepherded the ball off a goal kick.
Just before the interval Botosani keeper Pap was able to punch a corner clear, but when Tiganasu committed a bad foul on Hanca near the corner flag under no pressure, the keeper failed to cleanly catch the free kick under his own crossbar, but was able to gather the loose ball before anyone else could get to it. It was hardly convincing from the keeper.
Pap was called into action again in added on time, charging out of his area to head away, but this time the direction was not so good as before, and Radulescu gained possession but was forced wide, and his cross was headed away by a defender.
The statistics at half time show Botosani having had 51% of the possession but they trailed by three goals !
In an attempt to get back into the match Botosani made three changes at the break but although the visitors had the lion’s share of the ball, Petrolul were content to sit back and soak up the pressure, and the visitors rarely showed the guile to create enough chances.
Substitute Mitrov ran down the left for Botosani but his hopeful shot sailed a couple of feet over the bar with the keeper not troubled. Four minutes into the second period a poor corner from Florescu, another half-time introduction. was cleared, and when Botosani reworked the ball, Mitrov ran at two defenders but from a tight angle his left footed shot hit the post with the keeper beaten. Ongenda then tried his luck form 25 yards, but the shot bounced into the midriff of Balbarau.
At the other end a cross from the right wing fell invitingly to Grozav but Jyry was penalised for his challenge on Miron, and then in the 53rd Petrolul had a good opportunity when Radulescu, free on right, cut back onto his left foot but with two players in support in space to his left, he opted to go it alone and the shot was blocked.
Pap needed to leave his area again, this time chest controlling a through ball before hammering it back down field. Chica-Rosa then spread the ball wide, but Florescu shot harmlessly well over the bar from 25 yards.
For the home side Hanca ran from halfway and fed Radulescu on the right but ball into area was poor and easily cleared. Petrolul had the ball in the net again in the 66th minute when Irobiso calmly finished from 6 yards, but Radulescu had been yards offside when played in on the right
Petrolul substitute Dennis Radu was lucky to avoid a yellow card after bringing down Florescu with sliding tackle. Ongenda took the free kick from just outside the area but put it a foot wide.
Petrolul won a free kick in a promising position when Jyry was brought down just outside the area by Matricardi as he spun away from the Argentinian. Jyry chipped to the back post, but Friday was able to head away.
With 15 minutes remaining, Florescu won a free kick just outside the Petrolul area after being chopped down by Keita. With keeper Balbarau flying through the air, the curling effort from Florescu drifted just the wrong side of the post. Balbarau then received a harsh looking yellow card for taking too long to take the goal kick.
A poor back pass from Matricardi forced Pap to leave area again, to slice a clearance off for a throw, then Matricardi’s poor game continued with a sloppy pass that was intercepted, but the cross from Radu went well behind the unmarked Irobiso.
Radu then cynically pulled back Tiganasu and for the second time was very lucky not to get a yellow card.
Mitricardi headed Florescu’s corner over the bar but there must have been a deflection as a corner was given. When the cleared corner was reworked it was played in from the right by Florescu with his left foot, bouncing across the 6-yard box. Lopez, unmarked at back post, headed home from close range for a consolation goal. With 86 minutes gone it was now 3-1.
A minute later Ongenda won possession midway inside the Petrolul half enabling Lopez to put Mouaddib clear. With a tight angle the pass should have been played across to the goal to the unmarked Florescu with an open goal but instead the shot was blocked by the keeper’s legs, and Lopez's follow up deflected off the stretching Papp and over the bar. It was a great chance missed and could have set up a tense finale. However, Petrolul were able to see out the three added on minutes with few alarms.
Despite the victory, Petrolul remaining in 7th place, but only three points off third place. Botosani fell to the bottom of the table, going below Gloria Buzau on goal difference.
Botosani appeared to get the benefit of some soft decisions from the referee but didn’t really take advantage and on this showing need to strengthen the centre of their defence.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufSQMzj2Cyo
FC Petrolul Ploiesti : Balbarau – Ricardinho, Papp, Roche, Tolea – Radulescu ( Radu ), Hanca ( Mateiu ), Keita, Jyry ( Huja ), Grozav – Irobiso ( Demirel )
FC Botosani : Pap – Sadiku ( Friday ), Miron, Matricardi, Tiganasu – Cimpanu ( Mouaddib ), Papa, Ongenda, Aldair ( Florescu ), Bodisteanu ( Mitrov ) – Chica-Rosa ( Lopez )
Post Script : It was subsequently announced that Alexandru Tudorie missed the match as he had signed for Chinese side Wuhan Three Towns.
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