2026-2027 Champions League: Universitatea Craiova vs. Levski Sofia, Probable Lineups

The 1-0 lead earned in the first leg at home is by no means a cause for complacency for Bulgarian champions Levski Sofia, who will face Universitatea Craiova—last season’s Romanian league champions—at Stadionul “Ion Oblemenco” against Universitatea Craiova, last season’s Romanian league champions, in the second leg of the Champions League second qualifying round. The match will be officiated by an Italian referee, Matteo Marcenaro of Genoa.

In addition to the first-leg loss, Universitatea Craiova must make amends in front of its own fans for the 5-1 defeat suffered at Dinamo Bucharest on the second matchday of the league season, in which they are defending champions. The only goal scored by the blue-and-white team in last Saturday’s match was netted by Frenchman Steven Nsimba, now in his second season in Romania, who may start on the bench in the Champions League match against the Bulgarians.

Levski, which has regained the Bulgarian championship title seventeen years after its last victory, has gotten off to a very strong start to the season and has yet to lose a match—not even in a friendly. In the first leg, Kristian Dimitrov was the difference-maker, scoring in the 8th minute: the defender remained on the bench for Saturday’s league derby against Lokomotiv (a 2-1 win) but is expected to return to the starting lineup for this European match, which will determine who advances to the third qualifying round.

Probable Lineups

UNIVERSITATEA CRAIOVA (3-4-3): Popescu; Romanchuk, Rus, Screciu; Mora, Mekvabishvili, Cicaldau, Bancu; Monday, Elisor, Baiaram. Head Coach: Filipe Coelho.

LEVSKI SOFIA (4-4-2): Vutsov; Aldair, Dimitrov, Serafimov, Maicon; Bouras, Serginho, Moubarik, Reinaldo; Oko-Flex, Bala. Head Coach: Julio Velazquez.