Thursday's opponent: the Cluj.

The legend of Vlad III and his beautiful castle of Bran. Between Transylvania and Wallachia stands Bran Castle, the closest to Bram Stocker's Dracula description. The most important character of this castle was Vlad III, son of Vlad II Dracul and also known as Vlad the Impaler. He was indeed a bloodthirsty despot. The vampire epic born from Bram Stocker's novel has fueled the legend and it must be very exciting to visit this very beautiful castle.

But Cluj-Napoca (which is the name given by the communist regime to Cluj) is much more. It is an industrial, university city with a high cultural value. I recommend going to visit the Piata Unirii (one of the largest squares in Romania), to see the Church of San Michele with the highest bell tower in Romania (80 meters) and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, an Orthodox church , in the style of the 18th century Wallachian churches. and which in the dome recalls the Church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (recently the subject of controversy because it became a Muslim mosque under Erdogan, while in the past 70 years it was a museum).

Let's not expect a compliant opponent. They are a team with good technical quality and therefore proud. They are third in the standings in Romania, but in the last 2 years (2018-19 and 2019-20) their coach, Dan Petrescu, has always led them to the title. They will want us to understand that the 5-0 first leg was a fortuitous exception. For this we must take the field to give him another sonata. Let's get ready for a battle where we will have to put all our heart and determination into play. It is imperative to win and we can also win with a large result.

The media expect a 4132, but many players in the likely lineups are injured by transfermarkt.it, like Deac and Hoban, so I predict their classic 433. In fact, I've seen the dark red vampires often play with a 433, which more specifically is a 4123 and becomes a 451 on the defensive.

They attack mainly on the left with Camora triggering Pereira (left), very good at dribbling. Both wings have the foot consistent with their band. The right wing, Chipciu, is also right. Be careful because sometimes the two wings swap positions and play perverted foot. They are a good team, especially in the defensive phase (as the statistics of Liga 1 (the highest Romanian category) also say) which is done collectively. Aurelio (or Soares) is the playmaker, while the two other midfielders (which should be Itu and Djokovic ) act as an intermediary between full backs and wings.

Given the absences in defense (Kumbulla and Fazio have COVID, Mancini, Ibanez and Smalling aren't available), Juan Jesus' match becomes very important, especially in the defensive phase. This obviously does not mean that he has to slip in a reckless way in the area (as he did in the first game of last year with Genoa), but he must be concentrated, use cunning and experience. It is a game in which we all have to stay with our heads and put our best into it. We must aim for the victory that could resolve the issue of the EL group. We must aim for first place. Let's put the ash stake in the heart of the vampires. Let's take victory home. Daje Roma!

Giordano Sepi