The Politehnica – Ripensia duels have already become “classics” in League 2. The two Timisoara teams will meet again tomorrow at the “Dan Paltinisanu” arena in need of points after a modest start to the season.

So far the statistics are clearly on the side of the white-violets, who have lost only one game at this level against their neighbours. Otherwise, Politehnica has won in “B” in four direct meetings with “Ripi” and another game ended undecided.

“For us all the games we have to play until the end of this year are very important games. There are six rounds left, we have to accumulate points, because the situation in the standings obliges us. Of course the game against Ripensia is a special game. It’s a Timisoara derby. As a rule in games of this type there is a special emotional charge, there are egos. Everyone tries to get close to victory. I’m sure Ripensia’s players will come very motivated. In addition, I think an extra motivation comes from the fact that this week they are celebrating a number of years since the club was founded on October 21, 1928. And I think they will do their best to get close to victory. On the other side, we are also prepared to have a good development. We’ve been working in training over the last few weeks to improve our organisation of play. Whether we’re talking offensive or defensive. We need points and we hope that Saturday’s game will be a good one, that we will manage to accumulate the points that we need so much,” said Nicolae Croitoru, Politehnica’s head coach.

“I have been at Ripensia for five years, I can only thank them on this way. We have prepared very well this week and we hope to get the three points on Saturday. It certainly doesn’t help us at all to draw and we hope that on the pitch we will give our all… We are experienced players who have played in League I before. I think that will also make the difference on Saturday. They are a team of kids, who will run, they will hang on to any ball, for sure. Hopefully we’ll put everything we’ve prepared and get the win. That’s the most important thing,” said Adrian Zaluschi.

The Timisoara midfielder has been on the other side in the local derby in past years. “According to the statistics, Poli has pretty much won almost all of them, I hope that they will win again. I really want to be happy at the end! It’s going to be a nice match with lots of chances. It is clear that we will attack, now I hope that the weather will be with us, because I saw that it started to rain… I really hope that people will come to the stadium“, stressed “Zalu”.
Our team will not be able to count on the services of captain Ioan Mera (suspended), while Sebastian Serediuc is still medically unavailable. On the other hand, fullback Claudiu Pamfile has been training normally with his teammates lately.

The match between Politehnica Timișoara and Ripensia Timișoara will be played on Saturday, 23 October, at 15.00, at the “Dan Păltinișanu” stadium, in the 11th round of League 2. Both teams have 10 points each after the first ten rounds, the white-violet occupy one place higher – 13 – thanks to their superior record. More information about tickets and stadium access HERE.

“We have a team made up of experienced players, who have also played at League I level, but at the same time, if we talk about Ripensia, we are talking about a young team and youth is usually associated with the desire to assert themselves. On the other hand, watching them in the games they have played lately, their game is one with an upward evolution. We are talking about a team that is concerned with making a positional attack elaborated at a very good level for League 2. We’ve seen some interesting developments, it’s clear that they prepare this in training. I think that, somewhere, there will be a battle between our experience and the desire of the young players that they have in the squad to assert themselves”, Nicolae Croitoru, head coach of Politehnica Timisoara.