Romania round-up: Rapid defeat National again

FC Rapid Bucuresti stayed two points clear in the Romanian first division at the weekend thanks to a 3-1 defeat of FC Dinamo Bucuresti.

Three defeats
Rapid have racked up three defeats of National in four months; 2-1 in the Cup final, 3-1 in the Supercup and now in the championship.

Niculae rounds off
Cosmin Barcauan opened the scoring on 48 minutes with a header but Rapid levelled shortly after the break when captain Adrian Iencsi struck from the spot after a strongly contested penalty. Five minutes later, substitute Robert Nita buried a superb header before Daniel Niculae had the final say.

Godfroid injury
The only blight for Rapid was that midfield player Manuel Godfroid suffered a foot injury and will be sidelined for Thursday's UEFA Cup clash with Dutch side SBV Vitesse.

Distance strike
National, coached by former Italian international goalkeeper Walter Zenga, scraped a 1-0 defeat of FC Politehnica Timisoara, who had striker Cristian Silvasan sent off just before the break, after Gigel Coman struck from the edge of the box on 25 minutes.

Universitatea lose again
FC Universitatea Craiova, meanwhile, suffered their second successive defeat when they fell 4-0 to CF Gloria Bistrita 1922 in a hot-tempered match with seven players booked. Sandu Negrean, with a penalty on nine minutes, Alin Minteuan, Cristian Coroian and Lucian Sanmartean were on target for the hosts.

Arad off the mark
Newly promoted FC UTA Arad finally won their first game of the season courtesy of a 3-1 defeat of FC Brasov, the goals coming from Cameroonian Jeremie Njock on 14 minutesa and Roland Nagy on 44 and 72.

Two red cards
In the remaining matches, FC Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt drew 2-2 with CF Sportul Studentesc, FC Farul Constanta lost 1-0 to CS Otelul Galati, and FC Arges-Dacia Pitesti beat Astra Ploiesti 1-0 with Alin Chita (Arges) and Vasile Ghindaru (Astra) both sent off.

Steaua Sunday
In Sunday's game FC Steaua Bucuresti beat FCM Bacau 3-0, with a Adrian Neaga first-half penalty added to after the break by goals from Daniel Oprita and Claudiu Raducanu. Bacau defender Stefan Apostol was sent off in conceding the 38th-minute penalty from which the scoring was opened, with Steaua striker Daniel Oprita also red-carded five minutes from the end.