Dinamo – Targu Mures

Romanian giants Dinamo Bucharest will take on Liga 1 newcomers ASA Targu Mures in what should be an entertaining match at Stefan Cel Mare Stadium, Bucharest. The game will also mark the return of former Dinamo fan favourite N’Doye, currently playing at Targu Mures.

Dinamo has surely seen better times, as the team is in arguably the toughest period in its history due to financial problems. Dinamo is in an insolvability state right now and banned from European Competitions, but even so the team has played surprisingly good in the last year since Flavius Stoican took over as manager. Last season the Red Dogs finished 4th, this season they won all three games they played with a goal difference of 10-3, showing some excellent offensive display. The hosts have a mix of pretty good foreign imports and young, hungry romanian players, producing an entertaining style of fast paced, attacking football. Dinamo has a good midfield, a top class attacking setup, but the defense is very poor especially in the center back area, with 3 key defenders leaving the club this summer.

Targu Mures achieved promotion to Liga 1 this season and brought in a lot of experienced players. They have guys in the team that used to be big stars in the Romanian top level like N’Doye, Zicu or Goga and look to have good chances to avoid relegation. However, Targu Mures has an old team and despite the big names they still have a lot of weaknesses and I doubt they will be able to turn too many heads this season – they will likely be involved in the relegation battle, despite having fair chances to avoid the drop. So far Targu Mures has 4 points in the league (draw with U Cluj, won with poor Ceahlaul) and lost in the league cup with CSMS Iasi (but rested a lot of players).

Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle.

Team news & lineups

There are no new injuries or suspensions for either side and both teams are pretty much at full strength ahead of this game.

Dinamo: Samoila – Fai, Durimel, Ad. Popa, Grecu – Boubacar, Elton, Barboianu – C. Matei, V. Lazar – Bilinski

ASA Targu-Mures: Stancioiu – Velayos, Balaur, Bejan, Sepsi – Voiculet, N’Doye, Muresan – Hora, Bumba, Henrique

Dinamo is the better team here, they are playing great football and have been extremely strong at home in the last year, so those arguments alone should warrant a bet on the hosts. However, for me the biggest confidence boost comes from the fact that the hosts are a young team playing very fast paced offensive football, while Targu Mures has many old and slow players, so this should be a great matchup for Dinamo. I trust the Red Dogs to continue the good run at home, they have covered handicaps very often lately and proved they can score a lot of goals, so my tip is Dinamo to win with a 1 goal asian handicap. The bet on over 2,5 goals also looks a good pick, but the odds are much better for the handicap (and they are dropping). Prediction: Dinamo Bucharest – ASA Targu Mures 3-1.

Pick: Dinamo Bucharest (-1 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.95 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 9.50
Event date: 9 August