Universitatea Cluj beat Oțelul 3:0 on Monday in the ninth round of the Liga I regular season. The match finished at Cluj Arena with the hosts running out clear winners. Three goals separated the sides, with the visitors left to reflect on a red card and a late penalty.
Ovidiu Bic opened the scoring in the thirty-first minute before the break. Oțelul's Andrei Ciobanu saw red in the seventy-fourth after collecting a yellow in the sixty-fourth. Oucasse Mendy added a second for Cluj in the eightieth, and Alibek Aliev converted a penalty in stoppage time after VAR awarded one to Alexandru Chipciu.
We had backed the home side to win with moderate confidence, and the result followed that reading. Cluj controlled the tempo and punished Oțelul's defensive lapses. By then the visitors were already chasing the game after losing their man.
Cluj held 58 per cent possession and registered 114 attacks against 90 for the visitors. They created four big chances, while Oțelul managed none. Shots accuracy sat at 25 per cent for Cluj compared with 33 per cent for Oțelul, though the hosts still found the net three times.
Oțelul dropped to thirteenth with ten points from nine games, while Cluj moved up to eighth on twelve points from eight matches. The defeat ends a run of just one win in their last five fixtures, whereas Cluj lost their previous outing 4:0 away at Universitatea Craiova.