Article by Alexandru Barbu – Published Friday, January 23, 2026, 00:02 / Updated Friday, January 23, 2026 00:34
Before the first whistle of the Dutchman Sander van der Eijk, the calculations were simple: FCSB collect 4 points from the “double” with Dinamo Zagreb and Fenerbahce or do not equal last year's European performance – access to the play-off for the “eights”.
The first “11” of the guests was spreading a reasonable steam: the giants Dawa and Ngezana were reuniting in the axis of the defense to take on the higher-ranked Croatians, Graovac-Miculescu meant a band of salahori, two “closers”, so Olaru, Cisotti, Bîrligea pulled the stick with claims.
Florin Tănase felt sick and was taken care of for the game with CFR Cluj on Sunday.
However, FCSB hid a handicap from the start, the reserve bench, where no footballer who flickered and was in shape had sat down. In case of trouble, Pintilii and Charalambous would pull from the sleeve of the season's embroidered jackets, such as Tavi Popescu, Politic, Alibec. But maybe Dinamo Zagreb will never find that out…
Oh, they found out enough!
In a heated atmosphere, created by throats that inherited the power of the shout, FCSB was losing the match from the 11th minute.
Cisotti forgot that he had the task of protecting the left flank, from where Galesic's cross cut the seam between our African stoppers with a bombardier. Curiously, the text said they were huge.
Crochet two came from the other lane. Hoxha, Belji and others like them stitched passes as if the obstacles meant hooves, not professional athletes paid to defend.
He played hard until the break. Dinamo Zagreb calmly combined the two-goal advantage without sweating invincibility. On the other hand, the hosts had a score of 6-7.
FCSB stuck to the situations, the semi-occasions, only that the attacks kept hopping towards Olaru, too agitated, and Cisotti, uninspired.
Bîrligea escaped the enumeration by the execution of 42'. All over the field, sometimes a fugitive from an abandoned square, the champion's “newbie” produced the goal just like that: he “cut” from the left side, took over and dribbled, 2 in 1, and then a strong tracer to the far corner.
FCSB lost decisively in Zagreb, 1-4 against Dinamo, photo: Sport Pictures
Mixed feelings from FCSB
Dinamo Zagreb missed the cash-out moment and were starting the second act on a shaky cliff. If FCSB promises something, it promises inconsistency, and that also means danger for opponents. The team's supporters suffer, seduced by victories like the one with Feyenoord and tormented by Metaloglobus-type failures.
FCSB changed offensively and a lot between halves, gave up a man in front of the defense, sacrificed Lixandru.
With Politic on the left, Tavi “10” and Olaru box-to-box, FCSB's raids were stumbling like in the beginning of the game. Bîrligea's goal tied the Croatians, who were superior in the second half, in a different way.
Dinamo is not a great team, they beat FCSB by being serious and applied. He beat her badly, with 4-1, in the end Dion Beljo, encore, and Kulenovic scored, at Ngezana's request.
What are we left with?
FCSB stagnates at 6 points and is as if eliminated from the Europa League. The calculations of Adi Jitea and Romeo Ene keep her alive.
Dinamo Zagreb continues the race for the Top 24. It comes from a gray area of Europe, a world that we do not idealize as a whole. But let's copy from the Croats what interests us – how to produce better footballers.
A city with 3 times fewer inhabitants than Bucharest has sold, through its banner club, players for over 300 million euros in the last 10 years, most of them young, during which time it qualified 4 times in the Champions League groups.
