Rapid – Dinamo

Rapid and Dinamo will square off in one of the biggest derbies of Romanian football, but the two sides have not been in such a bad spot for decades – especially Rapid. Both teams are in a state of insolvency right now.

Rapid was actually relegated last season due to financial problems, gained promotion but are still struggling big time with money and are one of the relegation candidates this year. The hosts are on the 12th place and their recent form is rather poor to say the least – 3 defeats in the last 4 matches, but they did edge Botosani at penalties in the Cup midweek.

Even though Dinamo is struggling with finances themselves, they are in a better state than Rapid and have a better team, with some solid young players and decent foreign imports. Dinamo is on the 4th place right now but this is mainly due to their early form – lately Dinamo did not play too well, they won only 2 of the last 6 matches and both wins were short of being impressive – including the 1-0 success vs. poor CSMS Iasi last round. Additionaly, Dinamo struggled midweek in the Cup against a B-league side, Fortuna Cimpina.

Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle.

Team news & lineups

Rapid has a couple of injury worries here, missing the likes of Savin, Dica and captain Pancu. For Dinamo team news are great, they are healthier than ever today, they will get key players back and only miss regular CB Durimel.

Rapid: Drăghia – Tânc, Al. Iacob, Mera, N. Vasile – Săndulescu, Al. Dan – M. Martin, Al. Coman, Cojocnean – Ciolacu

Dinamo: Marc – Fai, Nedelcearu, Cordoş, Grecu – Bărboianu, Boubacar – Gavrilă, C. Matei, V. Lazăr – Alexe

I analyzed this game on all facets thinking about all kinds of bets, but in the end I will pick Dinamo to win. Rapid is looking really poor right now, they miss some absolute key players (their only experienced players) and home court advantage will not have a full impact because there are only 4000 fans allowed to take part at the game (Dinamo will have no organized supporters). In these conditions there are few teams against Rapid could be expected to win, and Dinamo is surely not one of them. The Red Dogs are still a decent side in Romania and after a couple of not so impressive performances they should be able to step it up a notch, especially getting 2 morale boosting wins in the last 2 games. Rapid did not defeat Dinamo in a very long time and it`s seems quite unlikely that will happen today. A draw does represent some danger, but at odds of almost evens I reckon the risk is worth taking: my tip is Dinamo to win. I really feel I analyzed this properly and we should get the profit. Prediction: Rapid Bucharest – Dinamo Bucharest 1-2.

As always, I will inform you that I am a Dinamo Bucharest fan so you can draw your own conclusions if you think I am biased (ah, “don`t bet on your favorite team” is a myth I missed to analyse).

Pick: Dinamo
Odds: 1.98 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.84
Event date: 27 September