Dinamo – Steaua

The biggest derby rivalry in Romanian football will see another episode tonight at “Dinamo” Stadium, with this being seemingly the best chance for the Red Dogs to defeat their rivals Steaua in the last 3-4 years.

Dinamo went to a rebuilding process lately and as a result the team struggled to defeat Steaua, also because today`s visitors had one of the best periods in recent history. Dinamo`s last win over Steaua was in 2011, but this season the Red Dogs are playing better, have a great manager and will fancy their chances against a visiting team that has a lot of issues.

After a great start to the season, Dinamo (5th place, 27 points) suffered two ugly losses against Craiova and Viitorul, a 1-8 aggregate scoreline, before getting back to winning ways with a 1-0 road win at Timisoara in an ugly match last round. The Red Dogs don`t seem to be in their best form right now, but they did win 2 of the last 3 matches in all competitions and will be pumped up by the fact that they are finally playing at their own stadium against Steaua – which did not happen in the last 3 years, with all matches being played on neutral venue at National Arena – but that was actually where Steaua played its home matches, so it was an advantage for them.

Steaua (3rd place, 30 points) still has arguably the best squad in Romania, but selling some of their top players and the hiring of an owner’s relative as manager have badly hurt this team. The visitors have played very poor football all season and are in poor form as well, winning just once in the last 5 matches in all competitions – an unconvincing 5-2 home win against relegation strugglers Botosani last round.

Bet on Dinamo Buc vs Steaua Buc in the Romania Liga 1 with high odds at 1xBet.com.

Team news & lineups:

Dinamo will miss key players Matei and Marc, both suspended, but Steaua has much more problems with injuries: Hamroun, Chipciu, Tahar, Papp, Enceanu, Muniru and Kharja are all unavailable, 5 of these players being regular starters. Additionally, backup keeper Cojocaru and captain Varela are slight doubts.

Dinamo Buc: Černiauskas – Fai, Nedelcearu, Mevlja, Filip – Vojnović, Anton – Gavrilă, Palić, Rotariu – Gnohéré

Steaua Buc: Niţă – Râpă, Varela, Toşca, Guilherme – Breeveld, Filip – Popa, Stanciu, Tudorie – Tadé

Neither team is playing good football right now and with the pitch being in very poor condition, a slow paced, boring match is expected. In normal circumstances Steaua is the better team, but they are having huge issues with injuries, are in poor form and play on the road, so you really can`t say that they are favorites to win. The value is clearly on Dinamo with all these injuries and suspensions Steaua has, but the Red Dogs don`t quite look capable of winning either.

The draw is the most likely result, both teams would be happy with it and a repeat of the 0-0 that happened earlier this season with Steaua as hosts is probable. However, given the odds and the circumstances, I reckon the best bet is to go with Dinamo double chance, as this crippled Steaua team could turn out to be way worse than expected without so many key players. The under looks good as well, but the odds are way too short. My tip is Dinamo +0,5 handicap. Prediction: Dinamo Bucharest – Steaua Bucharest 0-0.

Pick: Dinamo +0,5
Odds: 1.80 @ Bet365
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 6.40
Event date: 22 November