CFR Cluj produced a slack Liga 1 display as they were held 0-0 yesterday by Steaua Bucharest in Romania.
Cluj are set to face Celtic at Parkhead next mid-week in their second Europa League group stage match. The Romanians started their campaign with a fine 2-1 home win over Lazio.
Celtic fans will still be haunted by Cluj’s shock Champions League qualifying win at Parkhead last month. And they’ll be looking to do something similar when they visit next Thursday.
However, Cluj’s form took a real hit against lowly-placed Steaua. It’s been a tough start for Bucharest, who sit ninth in Liga 1 at the moment. But they more than matched Cluj, who could’ve lost on another day pretty comfortably.
For Dan Petrescu’s side, it halts what had originally looked like a return to form. His men had beaten both Voluntari and Lazio in domestic and European action respectively.
However, that came after a mini-slump from them too. Defeats to Slavia Prague (x2) and Astra Giurgiu threatened to shake their confidence. But they have responded well to their Champions League loss in particular.
But they’ve now failed to win in five of their last eight matches respectively. There’s nothing spectacular about how they’ve been performing lately.
Parkhead result must be on everyone’s minds
Celtic have the perfect motivation heading into this one. However, Neil Lennon won’t be one to look for any comfort in previous form. He’ll know the challenge we’re walking into against the Romanians, and many of the players will too.
It’s almost poetic how this fixture has managed to come about. The Hoops are clearly going to be motivated to put one over Petrescu’s side. The nature of that Champions League qualifying defeat still hurts massively.
The game will also give Lennon the chance to prove he’s learned from his mistakes. So far, the Celtic boss has done very little wrong. Cluj, however, put the only real black mark on his record by knocking us out.
What will have frustrated so many fans, however, is that they most certainly looked beatable. The tie was in Celtic’s hands before the players just bottled it on the night. Surely, the same won’t happen again this time around.
Cluj have only managed to keep two clean sheets in those eight matches since winning at Parkhead. They’re clearly still vulnerable at the back, and Celtic must exploit that.
But Lennon will read nothing into yesterday’s result, even if us as fans can receive a boost with it.
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