“Part of my heart is there!”. Why he prefers the total duel with Craiova than with Dinamo

Cristiano Bergodi, 61 years old, confidently awaits tonight's Cluj Derby, from 20:30. U Cluj is fighting for the title, fighting to win the Romanian Cup, it can achieve the event this season!

The “Red Caps” come after a qualification in the Cup final, but in the championship they lost the previous stage with Dinamo, score 1-2, away, putting an end to a series of 7 consecutive victories.

Cristiano Bergodi has a motto before the Cluj Derby: “Let's think about us, the supporters, the club and our glory”

Cristiano Bergodi praised tonight's opponent, CFR Cluj, he expects a hostile reception in Gruia, even though almost two decades ago he was the technician of the “railroads”, which he took to the European Cup for the first time.

“We know we will meet a good team. There is rivalry in the city, and at the level of the supporters. They (those from CFR Cluj) have a solid team, we have played twice this year and we know them well, as they know us.

CFR is a team that has returned, it has a good spirit, it has enthusiasm. It's a close fight for the top three places in the championship, and now that the Cup final is known, maybe the 4th place will come into play, which will lead to a play-off.

I think that everyone will also fight for the 4th place. CFR comes after a victory against Argeș, a match that is difficult for everyone. It's normal for them to think they can beat us and get higher up the table, but we also think we can beat them and stay up there in the table. We have to think about us, the supporters who will come there, the club and our glory, not money, bonuses”, commented the Italian coach before CFR – U.

Cristiano Bergodi has not forgotten his time at CFR Cluj two decades ago: “It's normal to be in my heart”

The supporters of CFR want to put maximum pressure on their fellow citizens from U. The “Feroviarii” are still hoping for the title, 5 points behind the two teams in front, U Cluj and Universitatea Craiova.

“Maybe it will be a hostile reception. I know I performed there, but you know how it is, they are watching. I am the first coach who took the team to the European cups in 2007. I have no problems, I focus on the game with my boys, not on the fans.

For me, CFR passed, it was an episode, I think I did something there, it's normal that CFR Cluj is also in my heart. As is Sepsi, for example, places where I did beautiful performances.

It's not a decisive match, because after four stages, so 12 points are at stake, but it's important, because now every wrong step can help another team to go away. In addition to Craiova, there are also the other teams, which are a few points away, and I say that all teams can enter the race for the first three places.

Now the physical aspect, the luck with injuries, the ambition and the desire of the players come into play a lot, because all the teams in the play-offs are tired, a month before the end of the championship”, said the coach of the “Red Caps”.

2.04is the average of the points obtained by Bergodi as coach of CFR Cluj, in 24 matches. He was the rival's technician between October 2006 and May 2007

Cristiano Bergodi prefers Craiova University in the Cup final, Dinamo would not agree

Last Tuesday, U Cluj got the ticket for the Cup final. He beat FC Argeș in Mioveni. A detail that, Bergodi claims, will motivate his students even more.

“After these 120 minutes in the Cup, it's normal for the players to be a little tired. We're not looking for alibis, four days is enough. We're at the end of a long championship and it's normal to be tired, but all teams have this fatigue.

We only did recovery, without doing who knows what. Anyway, I played with CFR Cluj several times, it's a derby and it's known that, more than technique or tactics, ambition, desire, attention to not wasting energy come into play.

This match with Argeș also brought us a state of enthusiasm, of well-being, because we qualified for the final and this is an extraordinary thing for us.

I also watched the other semi-final and I thought we would play Dinamo again after Boateng scored. In the end, if we were playing Dinamo, Craiova had a whole week in which to prepare well for the direct match with us, and now they are playing the final.

Which I think is better than if we had played with Dinamo. Anyway, there are two more games after the one with CFR before we meet Craiova and we don't know what the ranking will be. It's not a problem with whom we play, anyway both are good teams”, concluded the Italian.

If we didn't qualify for the final, after we also lost the match with Dinamo, maybe there would be a feeling of dissatisfaction, of sadness. I have nothing against this group, regardless of whether or not we manage to do anything special. It's a group that pulled a lot and I think the guys can only be praised. It's one of the best batches I've had in my career and I'm very satisfied
Cristiano Bergodi, U Cluj coach