National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Astra or Universitatea Craiova that keep their silverware dream alive.
It’s busy days for these teams as both were in action only a few days ago. There’s no rest for the wicked, or in this case; no rest for Astra and Universitatea Craiova.
Astra form and stats
Astra participated in Romania Cup the last season, where they reached the 8th finals.4W-0D-1L is the hard facts regardless of venue in the Romania Cup for Astra. Astra are slowly digging their own grave here at Stadionul Ilie Oană with the depressing streak of not having won a home league game in seven attempts. The last victory here came in the Hermannstadt match.
Astra faced defeat in their previous match, away at Viitorul (0-1). The defeat against Viitorul was especially painful as the deciding goal against was scored six minutes into stoppage time (by A. Chitu).
Before that game, the home loss against Voluntari with the scoreline 0-3.Universitatea Craiova form and stats
Last season their Romania Cup adventure ended in the quarter-finals.Total Romania Cup statistics for Universitatea Craiova: 4 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses.
It's the second away game in a row for Universitatea Craiova, but there's smiles all around after the 1-0 victory versus FCSB in the Liga 1 last time out. Alexandru Cicâldău came off the bench to score the winning goal in the match against FCSB last time out, making the manager M. Ouzounidis feel like a tactical genius.
Preceding that, the 1-3 home loss versus CFR Cluj.It's finally time to play a game of importance again as a long period of training has passed. Universitatea have played a number of friendly games in this period, resulting in 1 win, 0 draws and 0 defeats from one fixture.
Head 2 Head
Last ten meetings between the teams: Astra won three, Universitatea Craiova won six and one draw. three games with over 2,5 goals, seven matches with two goals or less.Top Goalscorers
  A. Cicâldău 11 goals |  V. Gheorghe 8 goals | E. Koljič 6 goals |
Astra missing players
Universitatea Craiova missing players
| Astra | Universitatea Craiova | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 12 | Played | P | 13 | 25 | ||
| 9 | 3 | Won | W | 6 | 13 | ||
| 8 | 4 | Drew | D | 4 | 7 | ||
| 8 | 5 | Lost | L | 3 | 5 | ||
| 27 | 9 | Scored | S | 13 | 29 | ||
| 24 | 13 | Conceded | C | 8 | 15 | ||
| 84% | 83% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 85% | 84% | ||
| 64% | 67% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 46% | 52% | ||
| 40% | 33% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 23% | 24% | ||
| 12% | 0% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 8% | 12% | ||
| 4% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 4% | ||
| 48% | 42% | BTTS | BTTS | 23% | 24% | ||
| 32% | 33% | Clean Sheets | C S | 54% | 64% | ||
| 36% | 42% | Failed to Score | F T | 38% | 28% | ||
| 0 | 0 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 0 | 0 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2.3 | 1.9 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.8 | 1.9 | ||
| 3 | 2 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 4 | ||
| 8.2 | 9.8 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 10.8 | 10.2 | ||
| 3.9 | 4.5 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 4.5 | 4.4 | ||
| 28% | 17% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 22% | 25% | ||