A new season of the Romanian Liga 1 gets underway on Friday as recently promoted Otelul Galati takes on UTA Arad at Stadionul Otelul in the evening kick-off from Galati. Following their promotion to Liga I hosts Otelul have drawn all four of their summer warm-up fixtures. However, having secured promotion with a third-place finish in Liga II, they only managed to win one of their last five games. They enter the new season with limited funds and modest ambitions with an attempt to somehow find a way to secure survival among the elites. On the other hand, UTA Arad were forced to play the relegation playoffs against Gloria Buzau in late May this year after finishing the season in the Relegation Playoff position. After a goalless draw in the first leg of the road, UTA advanced thanks to a comprehensive 5-1 victory on the home turf. For this season opener, I am expecting a win or a draw for the home team for the following reasons:

Firstly. UTA arrives at the Stadionul Oţelul unbeaten in six previous league games, including their successful relegation playoff tie against AS FC Buzău. UTA scored a 5:1 victory in the final game of last season at the start of June. The visitors have also won both of their two pre-season friendly games. However, they did not have as strong exhibitions as their Friday counterparts this summer as they managed wins over lower-division local sides Corvinul Hundenoara and CSM Resita.

Secondly. Otelul had two quality checks in the final two preseason games, drawing against the likes of Maribor and Vojvodina. They are well established clubs from Slovenia and Serbia, and their performances in those games showed that they can hold their own against the top teams whom they will be playing almost every week in the top flight. This opening game of the season leaves space for the hosts to get a result in front of their fans as they face UTA Arad who barely avoided relegation last year.

Otelul had a great home record last season in the second division of Romanian football. They may be labeled as underdogs in the opening game of their top-flight campaign but I believe they should have what it takes to at least stay unbeaten on Friday considering the lack of quality in their rivals’ squad. So, I am expecting a win or a draw for Otelul this evening.

新赛季的罗马尼亚甲级联赛将于周五开始，新升班马奥特鲁尔·加拉蒂将于晚上在奥特鲁尔球场迎战乌塔·阿拉德。在升入甲级联赛后，主场东道主奥特鲁尔已经将他们的四场夏季热身赛全部打平。然而，在以联赛第三名的成绩晋级后，他们在最近5场比赛中只取得了1场胜利。他们带着有限的资金和适度的野心进入新赛季，试图找到一种方法来确保在精英中生存。另一方面，UTA Arad在今年5月底被迫与Gloria Buzau进行降级附加赛，因为他们本赛季在降级附加赛中排名第一。在客场首回合0比0战平后，UTA在主场以5比1大胜，晋级。对于这个赛季的揭幕战，我预计主队会赢或平局，原因如下:

首先。UTA来到球场Oţelul，在之前的六场联赛中保持不败，其中包括他们在保级决赛中成功击败巴扎尔乌FC。6月初，UTA在上赛季的最后一场比赛中以5:1的比分取得了胜利。客队也赢得了两场季前赛的友谊赛。然而，今年夏天，他们没有像周五的对手那样有出色的表现，他们战胜了当地低级别球队康维努尔·洪德纳瓦拉和CSM·雷西塔。

其次。在季前赛的最后两场比赛中，Otelul进行了两次质量检查，对阵马里博尔和伏伊伏丁那这样的球队。他们是来自斯洛文尼亚和塞尔维亚的老牌俱乐部，他们在这些比赛中的表现表明，他们几乎每周都会在顶级联赛中与顶级球队交手，他们可以保持自己的实力。本赛季的首场比赛给东道主留下了在球迷面前取得结果的空间，因为他们面对的是去年勉强保级的UTA Arad。

奥特鲁尔上赛季在罗马尼亚乙级联赛取得了出色的主场战绩。他们可能会在顶级联赛的首场比赛中被贴上不被重视的标签，但我相信他们至少有能力在周五保持不败，因为他们的对手阵容缺乏实力。所以，我期待今晚欧泰罗能赢或平局。