Article by Daniel Grigore – Published on Sunday, 02 November 2025 23:53 / Updated on Monday, 03 November 2025 00:01
It seemed that the points would go to the Capital, but Craiova, the more dangerous team today, equalized in the 90+10th minute, from the penalty, through Steven Nsimba.
The leader of the hosts, Mihai Rotaru, was disappointed with the result, compared to the way the game looked. The University's shareholder felt that the match could end with a stinging score for Rapid and wanted to claim the refereeing manner of the “central” Marcel Bîrsan.
Mihai Rotaru: “When they scored I said: “No problem, we beat them 4-1″”
“An intense football, played with pleasure, aggression, pressure, quality, a football that was enjoyable. Not only the first half, the second was also good. OK, only if you are bayern munich do you lead the second half at the same pace but we regained our team, the group, we looked good tonight.
Anyway, I'm sad, angry, because football was unfair tonight, it didn't play with the strong, the brave, the better. OK, the football improved a bit at the end, we equalized, but it should have been the dominance on the table as it was on the pitch.
When they scored I said: “No problem, we beat them 4-1 and that's it”. We could beat them 4-1, that's what I thought, it would be a match like the ones against Basaksehir, Trnava, Sarajevo, we were completely dominating and it was almost impossible not to score. And he came, then we started the second half with a great opportunity Tudor Băluță.
We continued to put a lot of pressure on but the ref kicked them out of their 16 yard box and sent us off 30 yards from our goal twice!
One mistake, two, three, right on our side. I was near the referee at those fouls. There were attacks on the ball, there was nothing. He took them out from 16 meters, gave them time to breathe and sent us back to our half, which created a feeling of frustration at the level of the supporters, the technical bench and the players”, said Rotaru initially, at PrimaSport.
Rotaru, about Rădoi's gesture at the end of the match
Asked about Mirel Rădoi's decision to go to the locker room since the 90th + 6th minute, before his team received a penalty, Rotaru commented as follows:
“I think it was that frustration, after we had 2-3 moments when we took Rapid out of their 16, he saw that he didn't give Bîrsan a penalty and I think he didn't leave to look, but out of anger, frustration. We respect CCA, we respect Vassaras, but we demand the same thing, to be respected.
In the first half, the referee also contributed to that rhythm, because he let the game go. We were down on the field and he didn't stop the match, which he did very well, but one of Rapid's hits in our touch and that's when he stops the match. He threw us off the pace.
Again, I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose, but it's frustrating when it happens right before your eyes. He took us out of total dominance and gives them the ball.”
Davide [Matei] he played a very good game. It will grow physically. More strength, more power, explosion, maturity. He looks very good, he is a left-hander who will say something in Romanian football.
I'm interested in the trend. Tonight we can say we changed the trend. The team looked good, mature, aggressive, strong. Rapid was a toy in the first half. I got messages in the first half, I have a lot of fast friends. A lot of messages. We liked it, it's very good. That is gratifying. Craiova showed strength tonight. University, Science looked good.
– Mihai Rotaru
