Universitatea Craiova eyes historic Conference League progress

Former footballer Ionuț Rada stated that he expects Universitatea Craiova to defeat Sparta Prague in the fifth round of the Conference League and qualify for the European spring stage, which would be a historic achievement for the club where he developed as a player, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

“Universitatea Craiova has almost achieved its objective. To be sure, they will have to win. They are playing again against an important team, a team with European experience (note: Sparta Prague). However, they won the last game against Mainz, so we expect them to perform very well and qualify for the European spring stage. It would be a historic performance for Craiova. I would be very happy, I’m rooting for them,” he said.

Rada, however, believes that FCSB, which will face Feyenoord on Thursday, has very little chance of advancing past the main stage of the Europa League.

“FCSB has had a season far below expectations, they have very little chance of progressing. Many things happened there that I can hardly explain from the outside. There were players who came and did not integrate, players who dragged the team down in terms of discipline. I hope they get past this period and we no longer see such things, because it is an important team in our league that represented us very well in Europe last year,” the former defender added.

Universitatea Craiova will face Sparta Prague on Thursday at the “Ion Oblemenco” Stadium in Craiova in the fifth round of the Conference League, while FCSB will play the Dutch team Feyenoord, also on Thursday, at the National Arena in Bucharest in the sixth round of the Europa League.