Article by Maria Olteanu – Published Friday, 09 January 2026, 07:25 / Updated Friday, 09 January 2026 07:33
Nicolae Stanciu (32 years old), captain of the Romanian national team, wasted Thursday night miserably a shot from 11 meters, in the 90+9th minute of the match that Genoa played with AC Milan, score 1-1. Just a few minutes after the match, the Romanian international reacted on Instagram, apologizing for the extremely weak way in which he kicked the penalty awarded to his team.
Stanciu had a huge success at the top of the boot for Genoa, his team receiving a penalty at the score of 1-1, in the ninth additional minute of the second half. With a goal, Dan Șucu's team would have obtained three golden points in the fight to stay in Serie A, but everything was shattered by Stanciu, who was not inspired at all and wasted the penalty.
Just a few minutes after the match, he, extremely disappointed for what happened, reacted on his personal Instagram account, in the “Insta Story” section, with a message in Italian addressed to his colleagues and fans of the team.
Nicolae Stanciu apologized at midnight
“I took responsibility for the penalty, now I take responsibility for the two points lost. I apologize to my teammates and all Genoa fans”wrote the captain of the national team, on Instagram, after the final whistle of the match.
It was my decision. Seeing the other players on the pitch, I think it was an understandable choice, but mistakes happen in football.
He's a wonderful boy and I'm really sorry he couldn't enjoy that moment. Stanciu hasn't played much, but he trains better than anyone else.
– Daniele De Rossi, Genoa coach
This was the third consecutive penalty missed by Stanciu, after the one from the national team against Kosovo (2-0) on 12.09.2022, in the Euro 2024 preliminaries and the one from the match with Sigma Olomouc (1-0) from 4.12.2021, when he played for Sparta Prague.
He has 11 missed penalties out of 27 taken in his career. The last converted penalty came in September 2021 in the Czech Cup, Slovan Velvary – Slavia Prague 2-4.
VIDEO summary of the match
Serie A standings
