Nothing beats the sweet and sour celebration of the Steaua victory in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals against Rapid in today’s newspapers. But a renewed confrontation between President Traian Basescu and PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu received considerable coverage as well.

And some dailies send fresh warnings about possible Danube floods. And in one particular case, about another flood – that of Chinese workers on Romanian market.

"A glittering draw", proclaims Jurnalul National on the 0-0 score in the Steaua-Rapid match last night, which followed a 1-1 on Rapid turf a week ago. But it had to be a winner, the newspaper says, insisting that a better fate would have allowed Rapid to advance in the semifinals as well.

Evenimentul Zilei goes the same line writing about "two undefeated teams, only one qualified: Congratulations, Steaua! Thank you, Rapid!" The paper reports on the future matches that Steaua will play against Middlesbrough, with a first leg of the semifinals in Bucharest on April 20, to be broadcast by Realitatea TV.

And it considers the English team to be an "accessible rival", as shown in its matches so far.

Cotidianul focuses on the celebrations following yesterday’s draws, describing how the tens of thousands of Steaua fans "exploded" when the referee ended the match at 0-0. And how Rapid coach Razvan Lucescu just stood there, "thinking that he lost what would probably be the most important match of his career".

That is because none of the teams tried to risk during much of the 90 minutes, accepting a closed, tactical game.

And Gandul notes the many mistakes reported during the match and the very limited number of occasions for scoring. It also reports that while the presence of thousands of police kept Steaua and Rapid fans apart, there were tensions in the audience with Steaua fans chanting racist slogans about Rapid players.

For its part, Adevarul writes about the "red-blue madness" in the University Square in downtown Bucharest after the match, as "the whole city" turned the colors of Steaua within 30 minutes after the referee put an end to the football derby.

Elsewhere in the newspapers, President Basescu’s statements in a TV talk-show on Wednesday night draw considerable attention.

His attacks against PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who he says is to be blamed for recent ruptures between the Liberal and Democratic parties of the governing coalition, put an end to hopes for a merger between the two parties and draw the line for the future relationship between the two leaders, as Evenimentul Zilei reports.

Basescu said in that talk-show that he regretted supporting Tariceanu for the position of prime minister after the 2004 elections and hinted that he didn’t have any hope for a continuation of the current governing coalition after Romania joins the EU in January 2007.

That turns the D.A. (Yes) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats into the PA (Bye) Alliance, Evenimentul Zilei considers.

Gandul refers to the case in football terms and says President Basescu’s intervention brings "12 players in the field" for the Democratic Party, as the head of state, who constitutionally must not take political sides, expressed his clear support for the Democrats in the TV show.

For Cotidianul, that means "Basescu has signed the divorce papers with Tariceanu".

Also in Evenimentul Zilei, Romania is facing a high risk of floods this weekend as the Danube river may reach record flow levels of double the average. The newspaper notes that while gendarmes have been mobilized for possible interventions, authorities are optimistic that they would have no major problem managing the overflow.

And Adevarul turns its eyes on another kind of flood – that of Chinese women workers arriving on the Romanian market. One leg in their "invasion" is the region of Bacau, where 1,000 Chinese workers are expected to arrive despite a higher number of unemployed women in the county.

The Asians are trained in the textile industry, are ready to work for less money and are better trained than local women, the newspaper reports.