Article by Tudor Belivacă – Published Friday, April 17, 2026, 6:26 p.m. / Updated Friday, April 17, 2026, 6:26 p.m.
Oțelul – UTA opened stage #5 of the Superliga play-off. The round started with a controversial refereeing phase that came in the first quarter of an hour of the game.
On an attack from Oțelul Galati, Pospelov, the defender from UTA, touched the ball with his hand in the box, the Danubians received a penalty, and the home defender was eliminated.
PHOTO. Controversial phase in Oțelul – UTA Arad: Pospelov made a foul, but also received a “red”
Dmytro Pospelov was caught in the box in a one-on-one duel with Patrick. The striker from Oțelul Galati made a high takeover, and the ball was sent into the hands of the defender from UTA Arad. The VAR analysis took about 5-6 minutes because the frames offered in the first phase were not very conclusive.
When the perfect frame on the phase was found, referee Cristian Moldoveanu was called to the sidelines, analyzed the moment and awarded a shot from 11 meters for the hosts. And not only that. The Ukrainian defender also received the red card, something that terribly angered Adrian Mihalcea, the coach of the Arada players. At VAR, the officials were Marcel Bîrsan and Andrei Chivulete.
Adrian Mihalcea protested, and the “central” awarded him the yellow card. The “principal” from UTA calmed down, but his assistant saw the red card and was sent off the field.
Andrei Ciobanu put the ball at the point with lime and hit hard, at half height and beat Gorcea, opening the scoring at the Galați stadium.
The starting teams at Oțelul – UTA
Steel (4-2-3-1): Dur-Bozoancă – Zhelev, Zivulic, Iacob, Kazu – Ciobanu, Lameira – Bană, Andrezinho, Luan – Patrick
Reserves: Bordun, Chira, Conrado, Debeljuh, DE Neicu, DC Neicu, Ne Lopes, B. Paz, N. Pedro, I. Popescu, A. Rus, D. Sandu
Coach: Stjepan Tomas
UTA (4-2-3-1): Gorcea – F. Iacob, Poulolo, Pospelov, Alomerovic – Odada, Mino – Abdallah, A. Roman, Țăroi – M. Coman
reserves: Benga, Ciubăncan, Hrezdac, L. Mihai, Stolnik, Tolcea, Tordai, Țuțu, Van Durmen
Coach: Adrian Mihalcea
Stadium: Steel (Galatians)
Referee: Cristian Moldoveanu (Saint George)
ASSISTANT: Imre-Laszlo Bucsi (Sfântu Gheorghe) and Ionuț Neacșu (Bucharest)
VAR referee: Marcel Bîrsan (Bucharest) / Referee AVAR: Andrei Chivulete (Bucharest)
