Tomorrow at 20:45 C.E.T, the Nerazzurri will roll out on FC Vaslui’s temporary stadium. Temporary because their original one only fits 18,000 people and is not considered European standard. This is a play-off match in the Europa League.
FC Vaslui were founded last decade and have beaten record after record. When the club was only three years old, Vaslui advanced to the top flight of the Romanian League. Their colors are yellow and green and the manager is Adrian Porumboiu. FC Vaslui sit fifth on the Romanian league table, after five rounds with only eight points. Although they have only lost one match.
The Romanians were actually in the Champions League before getting knocked down to the Europa League by Fenerbahce. Vaslui were able to get an impressive 1-1 draw right in Turkey but in the return leg, the Romanian suffered a 1-4 defeat and a 2-5 on aggregate.
The adventure of Inter has been quite interesting. The first two matches were against a strong Croatian team, Hajduk Split. Against an unknown opponent, many people believed that it would be too difficult for the Nerazzurri to move on to the next round. That belief was enhanced even more when Inter completely destroyed Hajduk with the scoreline of 3-0 in Split.
In the return leg, everything was much harder. Hajduk gave Inter a scare when they scored two goals at the Meazza but the Nerazzurri were able to hold on to a 3-2 score on aggregate.
Inter’s defense have raised some questions, and for tomorrow they really need to be on guard because FC Vaslui have an offensive minded squad. Their key player, Marius Niculae is an experienced European player one that has played in teams like Dinamo Bucarest, Standard Liege and Sporting Lisbon. He has also been capped by the Romanian national team where he has scored 15 goals in 42 matches.
Samir Handanovic, Christian Chivu, Dejan Stankovic, Ricardo Alvarez and McDonald Maiga are all injured and will not make the trip to Romania. None of the new signings in Cassano and Gargano will make this trip either. It will be very difficult match but if Inter execute their game plans and play the way they’re capable of then a victory is waiting.
