Article by Aurelian Botezatu – Published Friday, December 12, 2025, 08:26 / Updated Friday, December 12, 2025 08:30
Celta Vigo, with Ionuț Radu between the goals, lost the match with Bologna, score 1-2. The game was led by a brigade of referees from Romania.
Celta v Bologna was another Europa League match that UEFA entrusted to a team from our Super League. Radu Petrescu had Radu Ghinguleac and Alexandru Vodă as assistants, and the fourth official was Cristian Moldoveanu. Only in the VAR room was a mixed team: Englishman Darren England, referee, and Marcel Bîrsan, assistant.
Marca newspaper was not at all satisfied with Radu Petrescu's refereeing style
Until the goal by which Bernadeschi equalized the score opened by Zaragoza (min. 17), for Celta, the Romanian referees had no particular problems. But in that 66th minute, Pobega was fouled in the box by Javi Rodriguez. Penalty? In the first phase, no, because the flag was raised from the edge: offside!
“The referee, Radu Petrescu, initially signaled offside at the urging of his assistant, but the timing had to be reviewed for what appeared to be hours. Centimeters favored Bologna, and Bernardeschi made no mistake from the penalty“, writes the daily AS.
The other Madrid daily, Marca, however, was generally not satisfied with Radu Petrescu's refereeing manner and, without reproaching him for anything in particular, gave him the line! Which, in the scoring way of Spanish journalists, means “very weak”. Or to put it another way, “it wasn't worth the money”.
Ionuț Radu received a star in the Marca newspaper
Ionut Radu? Celta Vigo's goalkeeper had a successful intervention on Castro in the first half. And for Bernadeschi's goals, he had absolutely no fault. The first was from the penalty, the other came after an impeccable execution, shot to the far corner, low, near the right bar of the Romanian goalkeeper.
Ionuț Radu in Real Madrid – Celta Vigo / Imago Images
Even so, Marca gave him only one (poor) star, an average rating for his team, which only had two players rated with 2 stars: Swedberg and Borja Iglesias. His Italian counterpart, Ravaglia, did not receive more either.
