CFR Cluj vs Slavia Prague will meet on Tuesday, August 20, 2019, in the “Dr. Constantin Rădulescu” stadium in Cluj Napoca.

CFR Cluj did not lose at home in the preliminary rounds

CFR Cluj played in the 6th round of League 1 again with the reserves, in the match played at Sfântu Gheorghe with Sepsi OSK, which ended in a tie, score 1-1 (Dylan Flores 31 – Adrian Alexandru-Păun 10). Coach Dan Petrescu wanted to postpone this match in order to better prepare for the match with Slavia Prague in the Champions League play-off, but LPF did not agree. The Romanian champion played 3 preliminary rounds in the Champions League, where he had the results: FC Astana – CFR Cluj 1-0 (Yevgeny Postnikov 68), CFR Cluj – FC Astana 3-1 (Billel Omrani 10, 26, 73 – Roman Murtazayev 4 ), CFR Cluj – Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 (Billel Omrani 22), Maccabi Tel Aviv – CFR Cluj 2-2 (Nick Blackman 15, Yonatan Cohen 48 – Juan Emmanuel Culio 19 penalty, Mario Rondón 42), CFR Cluj – Celtic Glasgow 1-1 (Mario Rondón 28 – James Forrest 37) and Celtic Glasgow – CFR Cluj 3-4 (James Forrest 51, Odsonne Edouard 61, Ryan Christie 76 – Ciprian Deac 27, Billel Omrani 74 penalty, 80, George Ţucudean 90 + 7). The “white-throats” balance was 6 games, 3 wins, 2 draws and one defeat, the goal scoring being 11-8.

Slavia Praguereached the Europa League quarter-finals last season

Slavia Prague has a very good debut in the new season of the Czech championship, with a balance of 5 wins and a draw. The team coached by Jindřich Trpišovský defeated FC Fastav Zlín (1-0, away), FK Teplice (5-1, away), Sigma Olomouc (1-0, at home), FC Slovan Liberec (1-0, at home) ) and SK Dynamo České Budějovice (3-0, away) and drew with MFK Karviná (0-0, away). In the 6 stages played in the Fortuna league, “Červenobílí” received a single goal, from Tomáš Vondrášek, scoring 11 times. They are in first place in the ranking, with 16p out of 18 possible ones. The Czech champion had a good UEFA coefficient, which exempted her from playing in the preliminary rounds, as CFR Cluj did, but not very good for being directly qualified in the Champions League groups. Last season, Slavia Prague played in the preliminary round of the Champions League, where they were eliminated by Dinamo Kiev (1-1 at home and 0-2 away). The Czechs came in Group C of the Europa League, where they placed second, 10p, after Zenit St. Petersburg 11p, but ahead of Girondins Bordeaux 7p and FC København 5p. He followed a very good course, eliminating 16-im KRC Genk (0-0 home and 4-0 away) and 8-im FC FC Sevilla (2-2 away and 4-3 after home extensions), But they were unable to get past Chelsea London (0-1 at home and 3-4 away).

CFR matches in European Cups against Czech teams

• 2009-2010: Sparta Prague vs CFR Cluj 2-0 and 3-2 (Europa League, Group K)
• 2012-2013: CFR Cluj vs FC Slovan Liberec 1-0 and 2-1 (Europa League, Round 3)
• 2019-2020: CFR Cluj vs Slavia Prague (Champions League, play-off)

Slavia Prague matches in European Cups against Romanian teams

• 1999-2000: Slavia Prague vs Steaua Bucharest 4-1 and 1-1 (Europa League, round 3)
• 2007-2008: Slavia Prague vs Steaua Bucharest 2-1 and 1-1 (Champions League, Group H)
• 2008-2009: Slavia Prague vs FC Vaslui 0-0 and 1-1 (Europa League, Round 1)
• 2019-2020: CFR Cluj vs Slavia Prague (Champions League, play-off)

CFR Cluj vs Slavia Prague Picks

The Romanian champion has eliminated FC Astana, Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Celtic Glasgow and has to go over Slavia Prague, to qualify for the Champions League groups. The Czech champion has the advantage of not playing in the preliminary rounds, and will start directly in the play-off. The stakes of the qualification are huge, because the players will have the opportunity to evolve in front of the strongest teams in Europe, and the clubs would receive from UEFA 15.25 million euros. In addition, each victory will be rewarded with 2.7 million euros, and the equal with 900,000 euros. For the “rail” it would be very important to win by 1-0 or 2-0 and not receive any goals, but the qualification will surely be decided at the “Sinobo” stadium in Prague. The strengths of Cluj are the attackers Billel Omrani and Mario Rondón, who are in very good shape, plus the excellent morale after the success of “Celtic Park”, the desire to return to the Champions League and, why not, the first qualification in case that the Czechs pass, which is 50,000 euros per person. It will not be an easy “double”, because the opponent is a favorite.

Our Prediction: 1

Odds: 2.25