FCSB‘s early season success has sparked optimism among Rapid fans, but veteran coach Victor Pițurcă believes that the Giulești outfit lacks the strength to challenge for the title.
The Romanian football legend, who has a keen eye for talent, sees Rapid as a strong team, but not quite a champion-in-the-making. Speaking to digisport.ro, Pițurcă highlighted the key differences between Rapid and Dinamo, citing the loss of key players at the latter club as a significant factor.
“Rapid, with the fanbase it has behind it, with a Romanian coach, can fight for the top 4 or 5 spots. But champions? I don’t see it. I see Universitatea Craiova as the favorite. In the current state, Rapid is above Dinamo. Dinamo still has work to do in terms of squad building, they’ve lost their most valuable players, I don’t know what’s going on there. It’s just the beginning of the season, we’ll see after a few matches what styles of play the teams will have, how the new players will adapt,” Pițurcă said.
Universitatea Craiova: The Unstoppable Force?
Universitatea Craiova, the reigning champions, have made a solid start to the season, earning 6 points from their opening three matches. Despite a 1-5 thrashing at Dinamo, the Oltenians have shown glimpses of their potential, defeating UTA Arad and Petrolul 4-0 in the process.
As the Romanian champions, Universitatea Craiova are not only fighting for domestic glory but also competing in European competitions. After a disappointing exit from the Champions League, they have been drawn into the Europa League, where they will face KuPS in the third qualifying round.
The Road to Europa League Progress
The Romanian champions have a crucial match ahead of them, as they host KuPS in the first leg of the third qualifying round. A win would see them progress to the play-off round, where they would face the team that loses the “dubla” between Ararat-Armenia and Celje. A defeat, however, would see them drop down to the Conference League play-off round, where they would face the winner of the tie between Shamrock Rovers and Egnatia.
As Victor Pițurcă’s candid assessment suggests, the title battle is far from over, and Universitatea Craiova’s consistency will be put to the test in the coming weeks.
**Will Universitatea Craiova‘s title hopes be derailed by Rapid‘s resurgence?**