Article by Adrian Duţă – Published Sunday, March 15, 2026 11:27 p.m. / Updated Sunday, March 15, 2026 11:27 p.m.
FCSB – Metaloglobus 0-0. Mihai Popescuthe central defender of the red-blues, returned to the field 5 months after suffering a rupture of the cruciate ligament. He came on for Daniel Graovac, who left the field with a bloody face.
The Bosnian central defender took a serious knock in an aerial duel in the match with Metaloglobus and left the field in the 74th minute. Graovac came off with a broken nose and bleeding profusely.
UPDATE 23:20. Mirel Rădoi: “Graovac has a fracture”
Mirel Rădoi, the FCSB coach, also spoke about Graovac's injury at the conference.
“Unfortunately, some medical problems have also arisen. At Graovac, it is a fracture of the nasal pyramid”said Mirel Rădoi, after the match.
Daniel Graovac came out full of blood with Metaloglobus. Replaced by Mihai Popescu
Mihai Popescu returned to the field at FCSB/ PHOTO Ionuț Iordache (GSP)
Mirel Rădoi sent Mihai Popescu in his place, back in the team after 5 months. The stopper suffered a serious injury on October 12, 2025, in Romania's match with Austria, score 1-0, in the WC 2026 preliminaries.
Popescu had a ruptured cruciate ligament and was operated on in Italy, at the Villa Stuart in Rome, by Dr. Paolo Mariani. A miraculous recovery followed and the centre-back was able to play just 5 months after the injury.
The return is a record, footballers who suffer this injury generally need at least 7-8 months to be able to play again. Sometimes the recovery period extends over a year.
For example, Radu Drăgușin, who also suffered a rupture of the cruciate ligament in January 2025, returned to the field after 11 months, the recovery being much more difficult than in the case of Mihai Popescu.
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Mihai Popescu, Joyskim Dawa, Andre Duarte and Daniel Graovac are the defenders that Mirel Rădoi now has at his disposal at FCSB. Ngezana is still injured.
