The big question for Romania fans is how Mutu will respond. He is basically done with competitive football now until June 9th, when the Tricolorii take on France in their Euro 2008 opener. Will the time off, and the fact that his club season ended on such a poor note, motivate him to tear up the competition when the group stage starts in Switzerland? Or will the malaise brought on from a sad end to the season cause him more frustration, and affect his play come June?

We’ll have to wait to find out for sure, but the team and its fans are well aware that as Mutu goes, so goes Romania. He has only played in one major tournament in his career, the promising Euro 2000 where Romania made the quarterfinals before losing 2-0 to Italy. He has never scored in a major tournament, but more importantly, when he does score, Romania win. Mutu has scored in 22 international matches, and in those matches, Romania has 19 wins, 2 draws, and only one loss. So, as disappointing as this week must have been, he’ll need to get his head together and concentrate, because with France, Italy and the Netherlands waiting, the Tricolorii are going to need him more than ever.

If Fiorentina can manage to win, Mutu’s appearance in the final will be the first for a Romanian in either European final since Marius Niculae played as a substitute for Sporting in their 3-1 loss to CSKA Moscow in the 2005 UEFA Cup. No Romanian has gotten a UEFA Cup winners’ medal since 2000, when Galatasaray’s winning squad included both Gheorghe Popescu and “The Maradona of the Carpathians”, Gheorge Hagi.

Mutu’s hunger and passion for this match can’t be questioned, but it still remains to be seen whether he can do in Italy what he could not in Scotland, break down that tough Rangers defense and get the goal that will send him to Manchester.

In other club action today, Auxerre defender Gabriel Tamaş, who got both of his two career international goals for Romania in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, had a rough day out today, losing 3-1 at home to give Saint-Etienne only their second away win of the season. Striker Daniel Niculae was fairly anonymous on the day for Auxerre as well. Captain Christian Chivu picked up a yellow card and had a number of nice-looking shots, but ultimately his Inter fell to Juve, 2-1. He looked particularly dangerous on a first-half free kick that was headed for the low corner, but Buffon saved it brilliantly and kept Chivu off the scoreline. The “other Niculae”, striker Marius Niculae waited patiently for a cross or ball in to arrive to him, but did so mostly in vain as Inverness Caley Thistle continued their terrible run of form, going down to Kilmarnock 4-1. Ciprian Marica sat on the bench all game as his Stuttgart teammates made easy work of relegation-threatened Hansa Rostock, 4-1. Razvan Cocis played 71 minutes up front for Locomotiv Moscow in their 2-1 win over Shinnik Yaroslav today, but it was fellow striker Peter Odemwingie who scored both of the goals.

Earlier in the week, veteran Romania defender Cosmin Contra played all 90 minutes of Getafe’s 1-1 draw with Racing that sent them on to the finals of the Copa del Ray. Cosmin will be looking to improve on last year’s final, when Getafe went down 1-0 to Sevilla. After that defeat, and losing in extra time to Liverpool in the 2001 UEFA Cup final, let’s hope Cosmin finally gets a cup winner’s medal this time around.

More to come this week as the Tricolorii prepare for the Russians on Wednesday.