Article by Romeo Ene – Published Monday, 09 February 2026, 10:50 / Updated on Monday, 09 February 2026 10:50
Steel – FCSB 1-4. The team coached by Elias Charalambous (45 years old) has tied three victories in a row and hopes for the play-offs again. Coincidence or not, it was the third game in a row in which the young Matei Popa (18 years old) defended the red-blue goal.
Before the game with Csikszereda, Gigi Becali (67 years old) ordered that Ștefan Târnovanu (25 years old) be replaced from the goal with Matei Popa, as a U21 solution.
The young goalkeeper fulfilled his duties, and Ilie Dumitrescu (57 years old) wanted to praise the decision taken by the champion, taking into account the results obtained.
Ilie Dumitrescu “approves” the appointment of Matei Popa: “Maybe the coaches made the decision, maybe Gigi made it… If Gigi made it, bravo to him”
After Pop was tenured, the people of Bucharest were able to send 10 experienced field players to the field.
During the match with Oțelul, the following U21 footballers were on the bench: Andrei Dăncuș (17 years old), David Popa (18 years old), Alexandru Stoian (18 years old) and Mihai Toma (18 years old).
Toma replaced Olaru in the 87th minute, when the match was already settled.
“The conclusion would be… I don't know who made the decision to introduce Popa, U21, in goal, but you gained an extra man in the opposing third. Maybe the coaches took it, maybe Gigi took it… If Gigi took it, good for him.
An extra man counts enormously and tonight Tănase, Bîrligea, Olaru and Miculescu rose to a very good level. It was risky to put in an inexperienced kid, but for 3 games the team looks good offensively. It is a great pity for Târnovanu“, stated Ilie Dumitrescu, according to digisport.ro.
VIDEO | “Double” for Bîrligea in Galați
VIDEO | Daniel Bîrligea opened the scoring in Oțelul – FCSB
PHOTO GALLERY. The most spectacular images from Oțelul – FCSB
The up-to-date ranking from the Superliga
