LIVE Rapid – U Cluj, debut in Giulesti for Olimpiu Moruțan

The game represents the debut of Olimpiu Moruțan (26 years old) at the Rapidului stadium. With a victory, the formation of Costel Gâlcă (53 years old) returns, at least temporarily, to first place. The Romanian international played 30 minutes in the last stage.

On the other hand, U Cluj is fighting for play-off qualification. Before the stage, the “students” were right on the border, on 7th, with 36 points, tied with Oțelul Galati.

The program of stage #24 of the Superliga

Rapid – U Cluj, LIVE at 20:00

Rapid – U Cluj, probable teams

Quick (4-2-3-1): Aioani – Manea, Ciobotariu, Bolgado, Borza – Keita, Christensen – Dobre, Moruțan, Petrila – Paraschiv
Coach: Constantin Galca

U Cluj (4-2-3-1): Gertmonas – Mikanovic, Cisse, Coubiș, Chipciu – Codrea, Simion – Macalou, Drammeh, Gheorghiță – Postolachi
Coach: Cristiano Bergodi

Stadium: Giulesti
Referee: Andrei Florin (Târgu Mures)
ASSISTANT: Grigoriu Mircea Mihail (Bucharest), Bucsi Imre-Laszlo (Sfântu Gheorghe)
VAR referee: Popa Cătălin (Pitesti)
Assistant VAR: Marcu Claudiu (Constanța)

UPDATE at 17:30 » The first details from Giulesti

From 17:00 he entered the device. The gendarmes and stewards moved from the hall to the stadium, where a handball match took place. The box office is still open, with around 9,000 tickets sold so far. The VAR car has also arrived. The cameras are also to arrive; I'm not at the stadium at the moment. The lawn is quite damaged in several areas.

Each lodge has, as we know, the name of a legend. Paintings with their faces also appeared in the main hall: from Culae Lupescu to Teofil Codreanu, Mario Bugeanu or Iuliu Baratky.

Rapid – U Cluj, a duel that could be repeated in the Superliga play-off

2026 has started very well for Rapid. Gâlcă's team defeated Metaloglobus (1-0) and UTA Arad (2-1).

Before the stage, Rapid was in 2nd place, with 45 points, 1 behind the leader Universitatea Craiova.

On the other hand, U Cluj is on 7th, with 36, tied with Oțelul Galați, occupying the last place in the play-off.

In the round, the two teams finished tied, score 0-0.

VIDEO | Costel Gâlcă, statements before the match with U Cluj

“A difficult match awaits us with a team that is organized very well. It has a lot of mobility in the field, with a coach who, since he came, in practically all competitions, including the Romanian Cup and the championship, won eight matches out of 12, drew two more and, if I'm not mistaken, also lost two.

First of all, we must, as I say every time, have a very good attitude. U Cluj is a team that works very well offensively and defensively and we have to take advantage of these things when they are disorganized“, stated Costel Gâlcă, at ​​the press conference.

Yes, there are chances that Moruțan will start, as others can appear in the first 11. I told you, Moruțan is a valuable player for us, but he has shown that he can change many moments in the game and he has very high quality.

Costel Gâlcă, Rapid's coach

VIDEO | Cristiano Bergodi, statements before the game with Rapid

“We are meeting a very good team, one that will fight alongside Craiova and Dinamo for the title of champion. They play better from match to match, they are a formidable team, now they have also made an exponential transfer with Moruțan, a player who showed his value last stage, with UTA.

The boys trained very well but this week, they are aware that we have a difficult match, we will play without fear and go to Giulesti to take a point or points“, said Cristiano Bergodi, at the press conference.

Rapid – U Cluj, the most interesting information, filtered by GSP statistician Liviu Manolache

• Seven wins, two draws and only two lost games is the record recorded by Giulești in the current championship at home.

• January 18, 2026, Dinamo – U Cluj 1-0 was the only defeat suffered by the Transylvanian team in the previous eight stages, during which they recorded six successes and one draw.

• -1 goals was scored by Rapid from fixed phases, a chapter where the Cluj group is best defensively, only two goals conceded after some static moments.

• The duel between Rapid and Universitatea Cluj is the oldest in the history of the current championship, the first direct confrontation taking place in the second season in which the internal competition took place in a divisional system, 1933/1934. On November 26, 1933, the students of Adalbert Molnar (U) won at home with 2-1 (Grațian Sepi, Silviu Ploeşteanu / Ştefan Boblea). In the return leg, in Bucharest (April 21, 1934), the Ceferists won in turn with 1-0, the goal being scored by Geza Medve, the striker of “Giuleşte” making his debut. In the aforementioned edition, both teams accumulated 17 points each (U Cluj – 3rd place, CFR – 4th place).

• In total, the two teams have met in the main domestic competition 101 times, 43 times Giulio won, 40 times Transylvania won, and 18 other games ended in a draw.

• Records with Rapid host: 50 games – 31 wins Rapid – 5 draws – 14 successes U Cluj.

• The biggest difference recorded on the first stage: five goals, five times 5-0 (three times for U Cluj – twice for Rapid).

• The last success ticked off by the people of Bucharest in Super League disputes: July 23, 2023, U Cluj-Rapid 0-3.

• The most recent match in the championship: September 12, 2025, U Cluj-Rapid 0-0.

• The match will be a special one for Cristiano Bergodi, who coached the Giulești team in three seasons, 2007/2008 (unbeaten in 13 matches), 2014/2015 and 2023/24 (qualification in the play-offs), the name of the Italian technician being linked to the last trophy won by Rapid, the Romanian Supercup in 2007.

• Cristiano Bergodi vs. Fast in all competitions: 11 games – 2 wins – 3 draws – 6 defeats

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