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One of the biggest derbies in Romanian football will have one of its most unbalanced episodes in the last decades today. The hosts are sitting on the first place, dominating the league with authority, while Rapid is dead last.
There seem to be some things going against Steaua today, like the fact that they sold a couple of top players in the winter, they have some problems with justice and will miss their regular keeper. Additionally, the fans are one some kind of a strike, so the atmosphere could actually be more favorable for the visiting team. That being said, Steaua opened 2015 with a convincing 3-0 win in the League Cup against one of the best teams in the country, Astra. Due to all kinds of circumstances Steaua is a class above anyone else in the past three years and looking at their performance a couple of days ago, they do not look like slowing down.
Rapid is on the last place with a horrible record of 11 points and only 7 goals scored in 17 matches. They changed the team virtually completely over the winter, keeping less than 10 players from the squad that played in the first part of the season. Rapid brought in some good players, most notably club legends Daniel Niculae and Sapunaru, who came here for half a year trying to save the club from relegation. However, most transfers are of questionable quality and were made very late, barely training or playing together. Niculae and Sapunaru haven`t played football for almost a year and with a new coach as well it will be very hard for Rapid to create a cohesive team.
Bet on Steaua Buc vs. Rapid Buc with the highest football odds at Pinnacle Sports!
Team news & lineups:
Steaua`s most notbale absentee is goalkeeper Arlauskis, while new signing Tamas (ex Watford) is not yet ready to make his debut. For Rapid it`s very hard to assess the health status, as there are so many new players that even the coach probably doesn`t know them all (*exaggeration meant to prove a point). All in all the visitors have a clean bill of health, no major absentees.
Steaua: Cojocaru – Papp, Luchin, Varela, Toşca – Bourceanu, Breeveld – Chipciu, Rusescu, Tănase – Tucudean
Rapid: Buchta – Săpunaru, Borda, Čmovš, J. Oriol – Gecov, Rui Miguel – Meulens, Pancu, E. Oriol – D. Niculae
The odds are slightly dropping for Rapid and the truth is that the visitors should be better in this second part of the season. However, it is impossible for things to work straight away and it`s not like Rapid will ever become a very good team with these transfers – just better than in 2014. The signings were made chaotically and way too late. Steaua is such a good, cohesive team and at home they have been virtually unbeatable in the last 3 years in Romania, winning most of their games with 2-3 goal handicaps. Even if Steaua has some problems now, they are more on the administrative side. They probably won`t have their hardcore fans, but they were never known for creating an atmosphere or put pressure on the opponents and Steaua always completed the job even with 500-1000 or even zero spectators.
All in all the hosts are looking good, they played a very solid match midweek in the League Cup and if they repeat that performance they should get a solid an easy win, somewhere in the region of 3-0. With this being an important derby, I have no doubts that Steaua will play even better than they did against Astra. Earlier this season Steaua won against Rapid twice on the road, 2-1 and 3-1, both times resting some starters from the lineups due to participation in European cups. My tip is Steaua to win with a 1,5 goal handicap. Big stakes at very good odds for this bet. Prediction: Steaua Bucharest – Rapid Bucharest 3-0.
Pick: Steaua -1,5
Odds: 1.89 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 8.01
Event date: 22 February
