OLIMPIA UNIVERSITATEA TECHNICA CLUJ-NAPOCA (Cluj Arena)

Thursday 8th November 2012
Womens Champions League Round of 16
Olimpia UT Cluj-Napoca 0-3 ASD Torres Calcio (agg 1-7)
(Official UEFA) Attendance : 1,000

Thursday was supposed to be "a day of rest" free from football but thanks to my mate having a peep on the Internet, he found match for us to attend. A women's Champions League game.

There are 2 major men's football teams in Cluj, CFR are one and the other are Universitatea Cluj. Universitatea play at the Cluj Arena, built on the site of their old Ion Moina Stadium, but with them not having a game until Monday, this gave us a good opportunity to see a game at this ground.

Romanian Champions Olimpia Universitatea Technica Cluj-Napoca are the women's team who play at Cluj Arena and they were taking on ASD Torres Calcio Femminile, the Italian Champions, in a Round of 16 second leg tie. The Romanians found themselves 1-4 down after last weeks game in Sardinia.

Admittedly women's football is not normally on my radar but after watching the summer Olympics I thought I'd give it a go. I have to confess I rather enjoyed what I seen. The pace and power is obviously not there but there was plenty of technical skills to admire. I was particularly impressed with the Torres number 8, Swiss international Sandy Maendly, who controlled the game from the centre of midfield with an exquisite range of passing.

The match was a comfortable win for the Italians as they scored 3 goals without reply to register a 7-1 aggregate win. Sandy Iannella (9) gave Torres an interval lead before a Patrizia Panico brace (62 & 66) sealed the victory. If the Italians had had their shooting boots on, then the margin would have been greater. Olimpia never gave in and kept going until the end but, sadly for them, it wasn't to be.

A splendid advert for Women's football and well worth the £1 entrance fee.