Article by Alexandru Stanciu – Published Monday, April 20, 2026, 07:52 / Updated Monday, April 20, 2026 08:06
Cristian Săpunaru (42 years old), the former captain of Rapid, believes that the fight for the title for the people of Giulești is over, considering the difference of 7 points behind the first two ranked in the play-off, U Cluj and Universitatea Craiova.
Giulești continued their streak of 3 matches without victory at “Ion Oblemenco”, where they were defeated by Craiova University, score 0-1.
Cristian Săpunaru no longer believes in Rapid's chances for the title: “It's very difficult to recover 7 points”
“It's not about lack of value. Rapid, which was the pragmatic team, had two huge opportunities in this match. Clearer opportunities than Craiova had. They fought, they played well in the second half,” said Cristian Săpunaru, according to digisport.ro.
Asked if Rapid still has a chance for the title, Săpunaru pointed out: “It's very difficult to recover 7 points”.
After the debut with a victory in the play-off, 3-2 against the rival Dinamo, Rapid recorded a series of 4 matches with a single point obtained.
Constantin Gâlcă's team lost the trip to CFR Cluj, score 0-1, and then was defeated at home by the other team from Cluj, U, with a score of 2-1.
The “white” draw at home with FC Argeș followed, and the failure suffered away with Universitatea Craiova, score 0-1, greatly ruined the chances of Rapidul fighting for the title.
VIDEO. The goal scored by Assad Al-Hamlawi in the victory achieved by the University of Craiova with Rapid
I don't think it wasn't a good match, I just didn't create any danger in the last third, but what I wanted in terms of set-up, build-up, it was good.
I'm thinking about the European Cups, at least at the moment that's what we're thinking about. We have shown that we can, even if in the first 5 matches we did not score many points, I hope that in the others we will win and take a place in the European Cups.
– Constantin Galcatrainer Rapid
Superliga play-off standings
