Breakthrough title for AstraAstra Giurgiu are celebrating their first ever Romanian championship after wrapping up the title without even taking the field on Sunday. Closest rivals Steaua Bucureşti needed to beat Pandurii Târgu Jiu to keep the race alive, but a 1-1 result in that match handed Astra the crown with two games remaining – with Steaua five points back and just one match left."We don't need to be modest because this is the reality: we played the best football among all the top-division sides and deserved to win the title," said coach Marius Șumudică, who clinched the first league crown of his coaching career. "It was a very difficult year for ...
Tag: Plzen
Title joy for Plzeň and APOEL
Fourth title for PlzeňViktoria Plzeň sealed back-to-back Czech 1. Liga titles – their fourth championship success in six seasons – with a 2-0 home win against Baník Ostrava on Saturday. Slovakian international Patrik Hrošovský put the hosts ahead with a 32nd-minute penalty, Daniel Kolář making the result safe early in the second half. Plzeň have an unassailable 14-point lead over second-placed Sparta Praha, who have four games left to Karel Krejčí's side's three.Plzeň are on a Czech top-flight record run of 16 consecutive wins, a sequence that started with a 2-1 defeat of Sparta on 1 November. For Krejčí, Pavel Vrba's assistant during the vict...