Champions or relegation battlers?

Only goal difference separates league leaders Universitatea Cluj from their closest rivals FCSB Bucharest, who will face TSG Hoffenheim in the Europa League on Thursday (18:45 CET/live ticker on tsg-hoffenheim.de). A balanced league and an unusual system mean that joys and despair are never far away from each other in Romania. The top six teams in the 16-team league will play off for the title in a championship round after 30 matchdays, while the teams in seventh to 16th place will battle it out to avoid relegation. The points from the regular season are halved and taken into the next round.

As a result, sixth-placed Sepsi OSK and seventh-placed Petrolul Ploiesti are currently separated by just one point, which could decide between title dreams and relegation fears at the end of the season. FCSB must not allow themselves a prolonged period of weakness either, as TSG's opponents are only five points clear of the relegation round. The fact that no team has been able to win half (or more) of its games so far proves that the league is good for surprises. But the four clubs that have beaten FCSB in the league so far are currently ninth, eleventh, twelfth and fifteenth in the table. The old adage applies: Anyone can beat anyone.

However, FCSB have won all of their last four league games. The record champions are also doing well in the Europa League, picking up a strong ten points from their first five games and can expect to progress to the next round.

Striker Daniel Bîrligea, who was signed this summer from long-term rivals CFR Cluj, is an important factor for the Bucharest side. The 24-year-old has scored 13 goals in 15 league and five Europa League games. Good news for TSG: the striker was shown a yellow card in the 0-0 draw against Olympiakos in their last Europa League match and will therefore be absent in Sinsheim.

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