Article by Romeo Ene – Published on Thursday, 04 December 2025, 00:15 / Updated on Thursday, 04 December 2025 00:15
UTA Arad – FCSB 3-0. Elias Charalambous (45 years old), the coach of the Romanian champion, offered the first reaction after the drastic failure in the Betano Romanian Cup.
The Cypriot on the red-blue bench was unhappy with an arbitration decision made by George Cătălin Roman.
“Central” did not call a foul in the phase leading up to the first goal of the Aradenians in the duel between Coman and Chiricheș. A wrong decision in the view of the Cypriot Charalambous.
Elias Charalambous, statements after UTA Arad – FCSB 3-0: “It was in front of me, it was 100% foul”
“After we were down to 10 men things were more difficult for us. Sometimes you have to make certain decisions. We have a lot of games, a lot of players from the squad were not here with us.
We made the decision to take more players from the academy to give them a chance to play. I think in the first half we played well. But after the red card things were much more difficult.
Chiricheș's teeth did not break. Maybe if he broke his teeth it would be a foul. It was in front of me, it was 100% foul. Clear foul. I don't know why it didn't work. But it's not an excuse. That's not why we lost the match.
Now, the most important thing is Saturday's game. We will focus on him. When the cup match comes we will be focused on it. Today was something important for the academy.
We strongly believe that the work is done correctly in the academy. We have great talents. Maybe today's game didn't help them show their quality. I am sure that we will have some of these players in the starting lineup in the future, why not even in the national team.
The match with Dinamo is important for us. We need points. For us every match is like a final.
I hope the young man who was injured (no – Alexandru Matei) there is nothing serious and I wish him a speedy recovery. That is the most important thing, that the players are healthy, no matter if they are from us or from the opponents“, stated Charalambous, according to digisport.ro.
Following this result, FCSB is in 3rd place in group B of the Romanian Betano Cup, with 3 points after 2 matches. Next up is Saturday's derby with Dinamo, in the Superliga.
Ranking in group B of the Betano Romanian Cup
