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The Romanian Cup final will see champions Steaua Bucharest take on the league runners up Astra Giurgiu at Arena Nationala, Bucharest. Steaua is heavily favored by the odds and rightly so, but cup finals are not always predictable and Astra will hope to produce an upset.
Steaua dominated the Romanian League with great authority for the second year in a row, and won the title with 3 rounds to go. Steaua is on the back of 3 consecutive draws but it`s not to say they are in poor form – the title was already won so they rested a lot of players and fielded a lot of youngsters preparing for this Cup final. The Bucharest side failed to win the competition last year so there`s a great motivation to lift the trophy this time around and achieve a double (the league and the cup).
Astra finished second in the league but mainly due to a good campaign in the first part of the season. In 2014 the team was poor and the level of play was largely unimpressive. They fired the head coach only to bring him back a couple of weeks ago, so clearly there are some issues there. On the other hand Astra posted a strong finish in the league, winning the last 4 games, and will feel confident coming into this final.
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Team news & lineups
Both teams are relatively healthy for this game. Steaua has a very important missing in Gardos, key center back.
Steaua: Tătăruşanu – Prepeliţă, Varela, Szukala, Latovlevici – Pintilii, Sânmărtean – Adi Popa, Keşeru, Cr.Tănase – Chipciu.
Astra: S.Lung jr. – Măţel, Ben Youssef, Găman, Morais – Yahaya, Laban- Yoda, Budescu, Cristescu -Yazalde
Steaua is at another level than the other teams in Romania for 2 years now, they have by far the best squad and a pretty good manager as well. They were dominant against Astra in the league at the end of 2013, winning 3-1 at home and drawing 1-1 on the road in the space of a couple of days. Steaua will basically play this match at home – the final will be in Bucharest, on a stadium Steaua loves, and Astra will have no fans attending the game. This is a big advantage, as Steaua was particularly strong when playing at home this season. I expect Steaua to come out strong here and dominate from start to finish and they should be able to get a couple of goals against a decent but weaker side. Steaua is also fresh and raring to go after most players were rested in the last three rounds. My tip is Steaua to win in regular time. I feel the odds for this bet are higher than they should be. Prediction: Steaua Bucharest – Astra Giurgiu 2-0.
Pick: Steaua
Odds: 1.70 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 6.3
Event date: 23 May
