Everything you needed to know (and probably some things you didn't) about our Europa League Playoff Round opponents
Now that the dust has settled from the Swans' comfortable 4-0 aggregate victory over Malmo and we've found out who we're to face in the next phase of the competition, it seemed like as appropriate a time as any to turn one eye towards our next opponents. With the first (home) leg scheduled for Thursday 22nd of this month (the Thursday after our opener at home to Man Utd) there's some time to contemplate our opponents, so what do we know about them?
Founded in 1924 as Juventus Bucuresti following the mergers of two other teams, they've seen their fair share of successes as well as, remarkably, going through a whole load of names. They've been known as Juventus București, Distribuția București, Petrolul București, Competrol București, Partizanul București, Flacăra București, Flacăra Ploiești, Energia Ploiești, Petrolul Ploiești and FC Ploiești, as well as their current moniker Petrolul Ploiesti. They've had more names than Prince! They've won four Liga I titles as well as three Copa Romaniel's (the national cup competition), the most recent of which came last year which is how they find themselves in Europe this season.
As you may have been able to deduce from their prior names, the club were formerly based in Bucharest before moving to Ploiesti, and as such have retained a fierce rivalry with Rapid Bucharest, which is known as "The First Derby" in Romanian football circles. Given the ferocity of the derby between Steaua Bucharest and Dinamo Bucharest, I am wondering where the name originated from. Perhaps the rivalry dates further back? Who knows.
In researching this blog I was wondering what kind of thing we could expect from a Romanian team, and I have to be honest I've been rather worried by what I've found. One of the first things I stumbled on was this video of a Romanian goalkeeper going nuts after a penalty was successfully converted (last May):
Thankfully, at least that one doesn't involve the team we're set to face, which is more than can be said for the next few. Next up is a rather concerning video from October 2011 in which a Steaua Bucharest player has his cheekbone broken by a fan of Petrolul Ploiesti whilst playing at Petrolul's ground.
Hardly reassuring is it? To be honest it just gets worse - this is from May 2013. The guilty party is Petrolul's goalkeeper:
Hmmm....After all of that it seems some comic relief is in order - and Romania comes to the rescue! Again, this one involves Petrolul. This time, it's an even weirder one in that their opponents, Vointa Sibiu, were down to 9 man and losing 3-1 when a contentious penalty decision tipped them over the edge, as they felt they'd been on the end of harsh treatment from the referee. The remaining outfield players left the field in protest while the goalkeeper...well, just watch the video:
...and we thought the Premier League had drama? After what we've just seen I think fans and players alike would be forgiven for having reservations ahead of a trip to that particular corner of the footballing world. Hopefully nothing like that kicks off when the Swans are in town; after all we're the nice guys of football, right?
They've actually played Welsh opposition before - in 1995 they beat Wrexham 1-0 over two legs in the Cup Winners Cup - but Swansea will be an altogether different proposition. The club have featured quite a few times in European competition down the years, and since returning to Liga I Petrolul have made great strides towards recapturing past glories - a return to European football must be extremely pleasing for anyone with a long-standing association with the club. So far this campaign they've put out Vikingur (Faroe Islands' champions) as well as, impressively, Vitesse Arnhem - the team from whom we signed Wilfried Bony. It seems they could've done with spending a bit more of that £12million we gave them!
As far as league performances go, last season they finished 3rd behind eventual champions Steaua Bucharest and Pandurii Târgu Jiu (whose name I'm very glad I don't have to pronounce), only losing 4 games all season - indeed it seems an inability to close out a game cost them dear. Pandurii lost 5 more games and conceded 9 more goals, but thanks to less draws and more wins were able to finish above Petrolul.
Their manager is actually a well-known face - to Michael Laudrup at least. Cosmin Contra is a former defender who played for, amongst others, the Romanian national team, West Brom & Getafe, and it was during his time at the Spanish club that he worked under the Danish legend. Their time at the club coincided with Getafe's run to the quarter final of the Europa League, so both manager's will no doubt be harbouring hopes of replicating that kind of form in this year's competition.
It seems there's the makings of a good team here, and perhaps the win over Vitesse wasn't the "freak result" some thought. One thing's for sure; the Swans will find out soon enough.