Dinamo – Petrolul

Dinamo Bucharest will take on Petrolul Ploiesti at the “Dinamo Stadium” in the Romanian derby of the weekend.

Seventh placed Dinamo had an inconsistent run so far this season, alternating good performances with lesser ones and after 3 defeats in a row coach Stoican decided to leave the club two weeks ago. It was unfortunate as far as I`m concerned, as Stoican was doing a good job with this rebuilding squad, but now club legend and former sporting director Ionel Danciulescu was appointed in his place. Danciulescu managed to rally the boys and get a solid 2-1 win at Gaz Metan last round. Dinamo has a very, very solid offensive setup, surely Top 3 in the country, but on the other hand the defense is terrible. The Red Dogs have a 26-20 goal difference in 15 rounds and allowed 7 goals in the last 3 games, scoring 4 times.

Petrolul (3rd place) was expected to challenge for the title this season but they lost star striker Adrian Mutu and manager Razvan Lucescu early in the campaign, now the owner is in jail and there seem to be financial problems at the club. Not a good turn of events, but the visitors are still one of the best teams in Romania right now (until the top players will likely leave) and are undefeated in the last 7 game, winning the last two. The visitors are very solid in the offensive area but at the same time can defend very well.

Bet on Dinamo Buc. vs. Petrolul with the best under / over odds at Pinnacle Sports.

Team news & lineups

Dinamo is close to a clean bill of health ahead of this clash (will miss right back Grecu), Petrolul has some absentees but nothing major according to coach Multescu and they have a very deep squad. I`m not sure about Petrolul, but Dinamo will line up very similar to the following setup:

Dinamo: Marc – Fai, Nedelcearu, Cordos, Filip – Barboianu, Boubacar – Alexe, Matei, Lazar – Bilinski

I can`t look past an over 2,5 goals bet in this match. Dinamo`s squad and spirit is clearly oriented towards total offense, and they managed to play high scoring games even under defensive minded manager Stoican. Now with young coach Danciulescu in charge, the hosts might be even more attacking minded, last round against Gaz Metan you could see from the start that the match was going to go over 2,5 goals. Surely the Red Dogs will be able to break down Petrolul`s solid defense (especially with the visitors shocked by the problems at the club), but at the same time look for Petrolul to create havoc in Dinamo’s error-prone back line.

My tip is over 2,5 goals and I`m really excited with the odds here. Prediction: Dinamo Bucharest – Petrolul Ploiesti 2-2.

Pick: over 2,5 goals
Odds: 2.17 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 9.36
Event date: 30 November