LIVE Rapid – Universitatea Craiova, derby-preview for the play-off

Regardless of the result, Coelho's Oltenians will start the play-off from the first position, while Gâlcă's Giulești will enter from the 2nd place. One of the most incendiary play-offs in recent years is being announced.

The program of the 30th stage of the Superliga

Rapid – Craiova University, starting teams

Quick (4-3-3): Aioani – Onea, Pașcanu, Bolgado, Borza – Moruțan, Vulturar, Grameni – Dobre, Paraschiv, Petrila
reserves: Briciu, Ciobotariu, Manea, Christensen, G. Gheorghe, Hromada, Hazrollaj, Koljic, Talisson
Coach: Constantin Galca

University of Craiova (3-5-2): L. Popescu – Screciu, A. Rus, Romanchuk – Mora, T. Băluță, Mekvabishvili, D. Matei, N. Bancu – Nsimba, Baiaram
reserves: Isenko, S. Lung Jr., Mogoș, Fl. Ștefan, Badelj, Stevanovic, Al. Crețu, D. Muntean, Cicâldău, D. Barbu, Etim, Al Hamlawi
Coach: Filipe Coelho

Stadium: Giulesti
A: Feșnic Horațiu (Cluj-Napoca – Cluj)
A1: Avram Valentin (Bucharest – Bucharest)
A2: Cerei Alexandru (Cluj-Napoca – Cluj)
VAR Referee: Dima Iulian (Bucharest – Bucharest)
AVAR Referee: Porumbel Valentin (Olteniţa – Calarasi)

UPDATE at 18:00 » Tulips for Rapid fans, on Women's Day

Special atmosphere in Giulesti on March 8. Fans arriving at the stadium are greeted with tulips at the entrance.

The club's volunteers are ready at the gates and offer flowers to the fans who come to the derby between Rapid and Craiova University.

UPDATE at 17:55 » Special menu for supporters at the derby in Giulesti

For the first time in Giulești, supporters can buy products inspired by Rapid players. The food truck inside the stadium sells the “Burger Săpunaru”, at the price of 40 lei, and the “Burger Moruțan”, for 35 lei.

The offer also includes “Giulia potatoes with parmesan”, which costs 10 lei. A small one with mustard and bread is 8 lei.

At tonight's match, sausages from Olten rolled on the embers are also sold, at the price of 20 lei.

The food truck belongs to Ninel Dănilă, an old supporter of Rapid and sponsor of the club. It also provides catering services at the Giulești stadium, for boxes and for spectators with VIP Experience access.

UPDATE at 17:52 » Checks before the gates open in Giulesti

The checks around the Giulești stadium have started. The Gendarmerie also controls the stewards in the device, to ensure that they are all accredited and meet the necessary conditions to be present at the match.

Authorities check the IDs and equipment of law enforcement personnel before the gates are opened to fans.

UPDATE 17:50 » Increased medical measures

Four ambulances are dispatched to tonight's match in Giulesti.

There is also an emergency medical office dedicated to supporters at the stadium. It is also equipped with a defibrillator, which can be used in critical cases.

UPDATE at 17:45 » The guests have the lodge ready in Giulesti

The lodge of the Craiova University delegation is prepared before the derby. The logo of the Oltean club was mounted on the door.

The space is located at “Loja Nicolae Georgescu”. The former midfielder died at the age of 47. He played at Rafinaria Câmpina, then at Progresul and Rapid.

With Rapid he became a champion. He also participated in the preliminaries for the World Championship in 1966. In that campaign he scored, as Romania's captain, in a match against Turkey.

UPDATE at 17:35 » Special areas for people with disabilities at Grandstand 1

Rapid set up two special areas for people with disabilities in Tribune 1. They are located at the extremities of the tribune, on a dedicated podium.

Access is made directly from the ground floor, with the elevator, to facilitate the entry of spectators into the reserved area.

UPDATE at 17:30 » How the lawn is presented

The playing surface is mostly in very good condition. There are also some areas where the grass is missing and the ground is visible, but the turf looks much better than the one at the National Arena.

The grounds were also taken care of during the morning. The special devices that protect the playing surface when the stadium is not hosting matches or training sessions have been removed.

UPDATE at 17:15 » Increased security measures around the stadium in Giulesti

Big match atmosphere in Giulesti more than an hour before the start. The stadium is sold-out and there are still fans around the arena hoping to find a ticket at the last minute.

Law enforcement is present in large numbers. The security device has been supplemented.

Stewards have already entered the device, while gendarmes are present in all areas around the stadium and at access points for supporters. The organizers have prepared special measures to handle the large flow of spectators expected at the match.

UPDATE at 16:30 » Rapid announced the squad for the match with the University of Craiova

3 and a half hours before the start of the match, Rapid announced the squad called by Constantin Gâlcă for the derby with the leader Universitatea Craiova. Tobias Christensen thus returns to the team, after being allowed to be with his wife, who gave birth to a child.

Goalkeepers: Aioani, Briciu
defense: Bolgado, Borza, Ciobotariu, Manea, Onea, Pașcanu
midfielders: Christensen, G. Gheorghe, Grameni, Hromada, Moruțan, Vulturar
Strikers: Dobre, Hazrollaj, Koljic, Paraschiv, Petrila, Talisson

Christensen is back, he's going to be with us, but he's definitely not going to start. Kramer is suspended, Sălceanu also has problems, but with those who are 100% ready, we will give everything for this match.

– Constantin Galca

UPDATE at 15:00 » Rapid Stadium is “sold-out” for the derby with Craiova

5 hours before the derby with Craiova University, Rapid announced, through an official statement, that the stadium is “sold-out”: “There are only 5 hours left until Giulești erupts! All for Rapid! So that all the people of Olten can see, how the hell Giuleșteni are!“.

Thus, there will be 14,000 spectators at the Rapid Stadium, who will watch the match between the first two teams ranked in the Superliga.

Rapid – University of Craiova, LIVE at 20:00

Rapid – Craiova, derby between 2nd place and 1st place

The two teams will also meet in the play-offs. Regardless of the result, Coelho's Craiova will finish the regular season in first place. Before the game, he had 59 points and was coming after the tormented success in the championship with Metaloglobus, score 2-1.

Craiova was led at the break and turned the fate of the game in the second act. The team coached by Filipe Coelho is in high spirits after qualifying for the semi-finals of the Romanian Betano Cup. On Wednesday, Olten beat CFR Cluj, score 3-1, after extra time.

On the other hand, there is no peace at Rapid because of the situation caused by the midfielder Kader Keita. On Tuesday, March 3, he was involved in a serious road accident after hitting a woman on the pedestrian crossing and leaving the scene.

The football player has escaped pre-trial detention for the time being and is under judicial control.

On the sports front, Rapid has two consecutive victories, 2-1 against Dinamo and 2-1 against Unirea Slobozia. Giulești have 55 points and cannot lose 2nd place. Dinamo is three lengths behind, but does not have the advantage of direct matches.

In the round, the two teams finished tied, score 2-2. Craiova equalized in the last phase thanks to the penalty converted by Steven Nsimba.

VIDEO | Costel Gâlcă, before the duel between Rapid and Craiova University

“We have an important match with a team that has shown that they have a consistent game during the regular season, a good team, a lot of value in the positions, balanced, quite good and I think our motivation is to get the 3 points in front of our supporters, to play a good game and to enjoy this victory with our supporters.

Craiova proved that they are a good team, but not invincible, so we will definitely be in a tactical mood to surprise them and get to their goal as soon as possible. It's a compact and defensively balanced team”, said Costel Gâlcă, at ​​the press conference.

Naturally, my first thought is the match with Craiova, but we are also thinking about the play-off. They will be balanced, open matches where individual qualities and tactical details will decide. We have to prove, I said and I say it: for us it is important to reach our goal and, after reaching it as quickly as possible, to fight for the title.

– Costel Gâlcă, coach of Rapid

VIDEO | Filipe Coelho, statements before Rapid – University of Craiova

Filipe Coelho, Craiova's technician, will not sit on the bench with Rapid, after he was eliminated in the Cup match, 3-1 with CFR Cluj. The Portuguese said he would be suspended for two legs.

“My suspension is for two games, that's the information I have. To be honest, one of the first things I did here in training camp was to review the footage. In my opinion, life is not fair sometimes. Football is not fair. In my view, to be suspended for two games is too much.

I have seen in the Champions League and in League 1 coaches who have done that, they have gone onto the field in happy moments when the team has scored a goal. Do you know the mistake I made? The mistake I made is not that I entered the field to enjoy the goal. It's because I expected to be treated like other coaches in the same situation!”, said Coelho, at the press conference.

Rapid has a good, experienced coach. It will be a tough game against a good team. A team that brought in some good players over the winter. They have the advantage of playing at home, but our aim is to get all 3 points, as usual.

– Filipe Coelhothe coach of Craiova

Rapid – Craiova | Key data about the match, filtered by GSP statistician Liviu Manolache:

• Eight wins, three draws and three defeats is the record recorded by Giulești in the current championship at home.

• Olteni won six of the 14 trips, and five other times they ended in a draw.

• At the end of the previous round, the people from Craiova had the best attack, 52 goals scored, 22 of which on the opponent's field.

• Rapid is the team with the most goals scored in the first 30 minutes – 17.

• The fewest shots were fired on the Olten goal area, only 84 (Rapid -117).

• The players with the most offensive contributions from the two camps: Alexandru Dobre – 16 (14 goals, 2 decisive assists), Claudiu Petrila – 11 (3 goals, 7 decisive assists, 1 penalty taken and converted by another colleague), respectively Steven Nsimba – 12 (9 goals, 3 decisive assists) and Ștefan Baiaram – 11 (7 goals, 4 decisive assists).

• Since Rapid's return to the main domestic competition in 2021, the two have met in the main domestic competition 15 times, the Craiova team prevailed seven times, the Bucharest team won four games, and the other four games ended in a draw.

• The most recent direct Superliga match: November 2, 2025, Craiova University – Rapid 2-2 (scorers: Adrian Rus, Steven Nsimba / Tobias Christensen, Lars Kramer).

• It should be remembered that the technician Constantin Gâlcă coached the group from Bănie in 2023/24 and 2024/25, his track record on the white-blue bench including 35 games in all competitions – 16 wins – 11 draws – 8 defeats.