“I wanted Chivu at the U21 national”

• The European U21 Championship will take place in Slovakia, between 11 and 28 June, and the Sports Gazette will move a team of five reporters on the spot.
• Romania U21 was placed in group A, along with Spain and Italy, two of the favorites winning the tournament, plus the host country Slovakia.

The national U21 is in a straight line for the duel with Italy on Wednesday evening, the first of the youth representative at the final tournament in Slovakia.

Present next to “tricolors” at the base “Raca” in Bratislava, Marius Niculae spoke about Louis Munteanu's medical situation – under treatment these days -, prefaced the duel with the Italians, approaching other topical topics in Romanian football: the complicated situation of the big national and the appointment of Cristi Chivu at Inter Milan, formalized today.

Marius Niculae prefaces the match of Romania U21 with Italy: “Mention and aggression!”

“We have already entered the fever of this European Championship, especially since we saw people, we returned to civilization (laugh), in Austria we were isolated, was what I needed (no in last week's cantonment).

I saw all the very motivated players, all were 100% in training, which is very important. From here on, the coach decides. I noticed the whole team, not just one player.

I watched Italy U21 … It's a very aggressive team, it plays a very direct football, I even watched with the players most of the matches. It's a good team, who plays directly on the gate, marks the match by match, even if he receives.

It is important for our players to be connected 100% to the match and to put into practice what we have worked, it is very important. It is very important to have the mentality that we can win this match, ”said Niculae.

Through aggression we managed to score a lot of goals in the qualification campaign, most of the goals we scored came on balloon recovery in the opposing third. We hope to do this with Italy, even if it is a team that wants this trophy, this said. It will not be easy, but as we managed to overcome a better rated team than we, Switzerland, I certainly trust that these boys can take points or points with Italy.

– Marius Niculae, sports director Romania U21

Louis Munteanu is on the injections: “We see how well the body will answer”

… about the situation of Louis Munteanu. [Joacă împotriva Italiei?] That's what we don't know at the moment, it has something of a muscular nature, injections are given. Now we see how well the body will respond to the treatments that the doctor makes. We hope to have it in the match with Italy, if not, we hope to have it at the others.

👉Louis Munteanu has trained normally in the first part of the training, the medical staff hopes that it will be 100% for the duel from Trnava with Italy, scheduled on Wednesday, from 10:00 pm.

… … About Pancu's decision not to keep Cîrjan in the lot: “It is the decision of the coach, he said yesterday what he had to say. It is a difficult situation when a coach is put in this situation, because, as I said, they all prepared 100%, we did not have to reproach them from the point of view of the field involvement and outside.”

Marius Niculae reveals: “I wanted Chivu at the U21 national!”

… about Chivu's appointment to Inter: “I am happy for Cristi Chivu, he is the second Romanian to train on Inter, after Mircea. It's very good for us, as Romanians. We had a referee in the Champions League final, now we have a series coach, we are on my good road.

He had a very good ascent, and I put him on the list in Romania U21. I talked to him to come to this team. I was trusting Cristi Chivu, I knew how it was as a professional player. [De ce n-a venit?] He said he wants to train daily, not to be a coach.

He did a very, very good job, not a lot of people gave him a chance to escape Parma. As a proof, a reward came, especially since he played a lot of time there, he also won Champions League, won championships with Inter. Basically, he returned home. “

“When you give the first shot on the gate in the 75th minute, you cannot hope for victory!”

… About the result of the big national with Austria: “Indeed, the chances of the national team decreased vertiginously, but when you give the first shot on the gate in the 75th minute you cannot hope for a victoryalthough at the beginning of the match, as I played in the first minutes, I hoped we could get more. Unfortunately, they were nine superior. We will see what it will be, maybe the results will be on our side, there have been surprises in the past. It is important to create a competitive team for “dam”.

We hope that the stands will be full of yellow t -shirts at this European Championship. And in 2019, after winning the first match against Croatia, an emulation was created.

– Marius Niculae, sports director Romania U21

The complete program of the matches in the “tricolor” group:

• Wednesday, June 11: Italy – Romania (Trnava, 22:00)
• Saturday, June 14: Spain – Romania (Bratislava, 7:00 pm)
• Tuesday, June 17: Romania – Slovakia (Bratislava, 22:00)

The lot convened by Daniel Pancu for Euro 2025

• porter: Răzvan Sava (Udinese / Italy), Otto Hindrich (CFR Cluj), Vlad Răfăilă (Lecce / Italy)
• defense: Dan Sîrbu (Constanța Lighthouse), Tony Strata (AC Ajaccio / France), Cristian Ignat (FC Rapid 1923), Matteo Duțu (AC Milan / Italy), ümit Akdağ (Toulouse FC / France), Matei Ilie (CFR Cluj), Andrei Borza (FC Rapid 1923), Costin Amzar (Al Nasr / Emirates))
• midfielders: Cătălin Vultura (FC Rapid 1923), Ovidiu Perianu (Unirea Slobozia), Marius Corbu (Apoel Nicosia / Cyprus), Cristian Mihai (Dinamo), Constantin Grameni (FC Rapid 1923), Rareș Ilie (US Catanzaro / Italy), Octavian Popescu (FCSB), Ianis Stoica (FC Hermannnstadt), Zoran) Mitrov (FC Botosani)
• Attackers: Louis Munteanu (CFR Cluj), Vladislav Blănuță (Cluj University), Rareș Burnete (US Lecce / Italy)