LIVE Unirea Slobozia – Oțelul Galati, in stage 2 of the play-out

With the guests, the Croatian Stjepan Tomas (50 years old), who replaced Laszlo Balint (46 years old), coach who resigned after the failure with Csikszereda, score 2-3, makes his debut on the technical bench.

Unirea Slobozia – Oțelul Galati, LIVE at 20:30

Starting teams at Unirea Slobozia – Oțelul Galati

Union of Slobozia: R. Popa – Dorobanțu, Safranov, Antoche, Şerbănica – Dragu, Lungu, Vl. Pop, Yanakov – Dahan, E. Torres
reserves: Rusu, Ibrian, Orozco, Garutti, C. Toma, Coada, Lemnaru, Carnat, Dulcea, Bărbut, Said, Vlăsceanu
Coach: Claudiu Niculescu

The steel: Dur-Bozoancă – Zhelev, M. Lopes, Neicu, Conrado – A. Ciobanu, Lameira – Bană, M. Lopes, Luan – Patrick
Reserves: I. Popescu, Ursu, Ferreira, Chira, Bordun, Paz, Postelnicu, D. Sandu, Neicu, Debeljuh
Coach: Stjepan Tomas

Stadium: “May 1” (Slobozia)
Referee: Chivulete Andrei Florin (Bucharest – Bucharest)
A1: Badea Marius (Râmnicu Vâlcea – Vâlcea)
A2: Constantinescu Andrei (Bucharest – Bucharest)
VAR referee: Mladinovici Horia Gabriel (Bucharest – Bucharest)
Referee AVAR: Artene Ovidiu (Vaslui – Vaslui)
R: Baban Vlad (Iasi – Iasi)
Obs. referees: Dumitru Robert (Sfântu Gheorghe – Covasna)

Ranking up to date from the play-out

Croatian Stjepan Tomas tries to right the ship at Oțelul Galati

The match in Slobozia will represent the debut of Stjepan Tomas on the Steel bench. The Croatian must save the team from relegation after the departure of Laszlo Balint. The technician left after a year from Galati after the team reached three consecutive failures.

Balint collected 33 games at the helm of the Steel: 12 wins, 9 draws, 12 losses, an average of 1.56 points per game.

Before the game, Oțelul is in 11th place, with 21 points. Claudiu Niculescu's Ialomi people fell to penultimate place, directly relegable, with 13 points, after Hermannstadt's success on Sunday against FC Botoșani, score 3-0.

In the first stage of the play-out, Oțelul was defeated by Csikszereda, score 2-3. While Slobozia suffered a dramatic failure on the field of FC Botoșani, score 2-3. Claudiu Niculescu's students were leading 2-1 in the 89th minute, but collapsed at the end and conceded two goals.

The hosts will not be able to count on Diego Zivulic and Paul Iacob, suspended, while Nuno Pedro and Andrei Rus are injured.

The Ialomi team will not be able to count on Jayson Papeau, who will not play again this season.

VIDEO | Claudiu Niculescu, statements before Unirea Slobozia – Oțelul Galati: “It is normal for the players to be mentally somewhat down”

Claudiu Niculescuthe home team's technician, prefaced the game with Oțelul Galati in a press conference on Saturday:

“It was not easy at all, not easy this week, especially after what happened in Botoșani, after that painful defeat we suffered in the final minutes.

It's normal for the players to be mentally a bit down, but easily, easily, I say we overcame that match. This is part of our job, we have to get up, keep working and keep fighting because nothing is lost.

Indeed, there were some very important points that I lost like this through my fingers, but all these are a part of the past.

We have to be aware that we have a very tough test ahead of us and we have to recover mentally until tomorrow night's game against the Steel, a game that we have to win at all costs.

It's a match, probably the most important match. That's not to say the others weren't important, but given the tough week we've had up to this point, the match against the Steel becomes an extremely, extremely important match.

We need everyone's help. I'm talking to the guys, I've tried and I'm still trying and I'm working to get them up. We will arrive at match time with maximum morale. I hope we will succeed, me and my staff. But we must stand up. Let's stand up because in football the state of the team, the mental state of the team can change from one day to the next.

No… no half measures allowed tomorrow night. We have to fight until the end of the match, shoot, leave the field exhausted but happy at the end.

I'm sure we can do it, but we need the help of our supporters. I expect it to be as large as possible tomorrow evening, let's get over this difficult moment for the team together”, said Claudiu Niculescu, during the press conference.

The fact that the coach has changed matters. This matters, it creates that shock. It's not my business and I don't care, but the point is that they changed the coach, a coach with a lot of experience is coming as far as I know.

We also got new information, in which system they will play, but in the end I think these aspects matter less. That they changed the coach, the tactical module matters less. It is important that we have a spirit of sacrifice, have group unity on the field and give our absolute best to win.

– Claudiu Niculescuthe coach of Unirii Slobozia

VIDEO | Stjepan Tomas, debut at Oțelul: “I see that the team is very intelligent”

“Yes, I've been here for a few days and I'm very happy with the team, the players, the way they work, how they focus in training. They quickly understood all my ideas and I know we can make great progress, especially tactically and also in terms of intensity.

I can see that the team is very smart. They immediately understand all my ideas or what I want to do, accept them and try to apply them in training. This is the road we must continue to work on.

Of course, we are in a negative streak and we want to stop it. We want to win and take the three points, change everything here. We know it will be a difficult match. Unirea Slobozia is a well-organized team defensively, they are good in defense, they have a good coach, but we have to be smart in this game.

We have to prepare, and I have already prepared this match in a good way, I have analyzed the opposing team and I think my team will be ready for this game. We want to prove to ourselves and all our fans that we can put on a good performance in this match.

Yes, we have some suspended players and we also have injured players. Pedro Nuno has been unavailable for a few weeks, but we have enough players here to fill those absences.

Everyone is working hard, everyone is focused. We are a good group and I hope we can show that on the field on Monday,” said Stjepan Tomas, the Steel's new A1.

I'm not thinking about transfers now. Since I came and saw the team, I only focus on these players, this team. We have enough good players, we are a good enough team to prove our worth on the pitch.

It's not the time now to talk about what kind of player transfers we would make, because I'm happy, I'm very happy with this group of players that I have and who can perform well on Monday.

I saw all the players available, they work hard. I already have an idea about the first “11”, but the others are also working hard. I consider the whole team and everyone will play, I will give everyone a chance to play.

– Stjepan Tomasthe new technician of Galati Steel

Unirea Slobozia – Oțelul Galati | Key data about the match, filtered by GSP statistician Liviu Manolache:

• February 7, 2026, Unirea – Farul Constanța 2-1 was the only victory achieved by the Ialomi people in 2026, a year in which they recorded one draw (0-0 FC Argeș) and eight defeats (six at the limit).

• The Galatians have only one success in the previous eight stages (February 14, 2026, Metaloglobus-Oțelul 0-1), otherwise two draws and five lost games.

• At the end of the previous round, Unirea was the team with the most matches without a goal scored – 14 (Oțelul – 12).

• The team from Slobozia scored 16 goals from set pieces, nine of which came from corners.

• Oțelul has collected 11 matches without conceding a goal (Unirea – 5), of which six away.

• Also worth noting is the debut of Stjepan Tomas on the Galatasaray bench, the Croatian being the 47th foreign coach to work in the Super League after 1989.

• The two teams have met in the main domestic competition five times, three times the Galatasarays prevailed, one game was won by the Ialomiites, and one game ended in a draw.

• The first match took place on October 27, 2024, Oțelul – Unirea 0-2.

• The most recent direct Superliga match was recorded on December 5, 2025, Oțelul-Unirea 3-0 (scorers Conrado Holz, Paulinho, Andrezinho).