Marin Barbu, 67 years old, one of the oldest coaches in Romanian football, a former midfielder at Steaua in the early 80s, sees no FCSB capitulating in the title fight, even if the goal seems out of reach at the moment. “Magiun” spoke about the chances of the champion to catch the play-off again, in a season of unprecedented unpredictability.
With shoulders weighed down by the burden of the most unsatisfactory journey in recent years, FCSB are looking to put aside the awkwardness of this championship and achieve play-off qualification, the intermediate goal of the champion in the attempt to save their season.
In an interview given to Gazeta on Saturday, the charismatic Marin Barbu came up with a somewhat more optimistic approach to the red-blue blow. The experienced technician believes that four points in the next two rounds, from the trips with Oțelul and Craiova, would smooth FCSB's path to the play-offs.
Marin Barbu, on FCSB, Charalambous and the fight for the play-offs: “Great chances with 4 points in the next two stages”
“If they beat Galați, FCSB has a good chance of catching the play-off. If he collects four points in the next two stages, sure yes!
[Mai poate emite FCSB pretenții la titlu?] Dad, you see the points are being halved and there would be about six points between first place and sixth place. And you know how it is… When you play in the National Arena with 30,000 spectators in the strong matches, things change. He can have a shot at the title, why not?Don't you see that there are no simple matches in this championship? Rapid couldn't beat Petrol! Slobozia and Metaloglobus beat FCSB, so… It's a balanced championship. The last matches were really nice. It is very difficult to give my opinion on the title, there is a lot going on and any team can stumble. When the play-off starts, more things will be clarified”, said Marin Barbu, who last coached at Sepsi in 2019.
Marin Barbu / PHOTO: Gazeta Sporturilor
“People should respect Charalambous more!”
Marin Barbu reprimanded the challengers of Elias Charalambous, talking about the future of the Cypriot on the bench of the current champion:
“I don't know if Elias Charalambous wants to continue from the summer.
From what I can tell, I think Gigi wants it, I don't know if he still wants it. The pressure is high, everyone wants results from him, but know that I don't know who else would have managed to reconcile both the goat and the cabbage. People should respect him more!“, pointed out the one nicknamed “Magiun”.
We have to keep playing like we did in the last games, at our best level, because we don't have time to lose points. We have to try to win again to have more chances to go up.
I think our players have shown, in difficult moments, how strong they are. They understood the situation, but we must continue. We haven't achieved anything yet, even though we won the last two matches. We have to recover what we lost in the beginning [de sezon]let's continue to have this reaction, this attitude
– Elias Charalambous, FCSB coach
