“It messed up more, you can't do something like that” / “It didn't bring anything to the game”
Article by Aurelian Botezatu – Published Sunday, November 16, 2025, 3:01 p.m. / Updated Sunday, November 16, 2025, 3:02 p.m.
Former Romanian international Marcel Răducanu, 71, says that “we cannot blame only the refereeing” for the failure of the tricolors in front of Bosnia (1-3).
The Romanian national team impressed Marcel Răducanu in the first half of the return leg with Bosnia: “We played very compactly, counterattacked sharply and had enough opportunities to go in with a 3-0 at halftime or 3-1, if we also take into account their bar”.
Marcel Răducanu believes that, at half-time, the tricolors lost their strength: “Mircea Lucescu invoked this several times”
However, at the restart, the “tricolors” lost the level shown in the first 45 minutes: “Now, after the match, you can say anything. But it is possible that this fall in the second half also has to do with the modest physical training at the clubs. I remember that Mircea Lucescu invoked it on several occasions. Maybe they ran out of gas, as they say.
Don't forget that the same thing happened to us in Cyprus. We led 2-0 and in the second half we cut ourselves and they equalized. And if the match lasted a little longer, they would beat us”, recalled the former Stella player.
Marcel Răducanu: “The referee was wrong, but we also have to look at ourselves”
The arbitration? “Ok, Michael Oliver was wrong. The Bosnians should have stayed first down when Tabakovic hit Marius Marin with blood coming from his ear. But we have to look at ourselves too. From the moment we stopped causing problems, they came over us. I invited them to attack us.
But if we scored from the opportunities we had, the match was over. Afterwards, it was expected that the Bosnians would play hard, to intimidate, to somehow throw us out of the rhythm. I think they also discussed this in the locker room, during the break. Their coach made some inspired changes, ours took Bîrligea out, but we didn't understand why. He had scored in the first half and, being massive, he was fighting there, in front, with their defenders”, believes the former international.
Marcel Răducanu: “Man messed up more in the second half, Ianis didn't bring anything to the team's game”
The big disappointments of the party, in the opinion of Marcel Răducanu, were Dennis Man and Ianis Hagi. “Man didn't just waste two very rare chances. But in the second half he messed up on the pitch more. In two good situations for us he made the worst possible decision. Once he made a wrong pass, then he messed up Rațiu and that embarrassing fight came out on the field. Such a thing is not possible.
About Ianis, what else can I say? The first 3 passes were wrong. Like he didn't bring anything to our team's game. It was clearly not up to him,” is Răducanu's opinion, who also criticized the public's attitude: “His chants are not okay. FIFA must intervene and do something.”
The dam? “I understand that we have to expect tough opponents. We'll talk more after the draw. Anyway, it will be difficult. You can't invent better players than we currently have overnight“.
