Article by Cosmin Nistor – Published Friday, 20 February 2026, 22:28 / Updated Friday, 20 February 2026 22:36
In October, the leader of the Moldovan club declared that he wanted the title of champion in the Superliga. Around four months on, Iftime resigned and spoke of the disappointment of the failure, the mistakes in defense and the dwindling chances of the play-offs.
Thanks to this victory, U Cluj reached 48 points, occupies the 4th place, and the play-off is getting closer. On the other hand, FC Botoșani risks missing out on ranking among the top 6 at the end of the regular season.
Valeriu Iftime, after Botoșani – U Cluj 1-3: “In my stupidity, I believed in the title”
The financier of the Moldovans admitted that he had hoped for more this season and was extremely disappointed with the team's current situation. He also commented on Mitrov's statement, who complained about the level of play of the team from Botoșani.
“I think Mitrov was right, but I don't know, I wouldn't want to decipher Mitrov to the end. He played well today, it's true, you also miss, the wind blows the reeds off the poor man's house, that's about our story.
We could have scored at 1-1, at 2-1, but Miron keeps making mistakes and it keeps happening. That's it, I don't know what to say, you realize from where I left to where I ended up, you don't really have words. In my stupidity I believed in the title. It's sad, disappointing, I don't know, it's clearly a nervous atmosphereloaded, but I think Leo (No. Grozavu) can rebuild something there.
I don't really have Mitrov's mind to think about relegation, but we shouldn't panic, we didn't play badly apart from 3 goals, 2 of which were naive mistakes, like Miron, the captain, after drinking two bottles of whiskeythat's how he played. After signing the contract he plays badly.
In the first half we really played well, in the second we fell apart. Where we ended up, we thought we'd reach the play-offs, now we're in the hands of luck, let's win 6 points, and let the others get confused”, said Iftime, in an intervention on the “Footbal Club” show on Digi Sport.
