Article by Maria Olteanu – Published Sunday, April 19, 2026 11:50 p.m. / Updated Sunday, April 19, 2026 11:51 p.m.
University of Craiova – Rapid 1-0. Costel Gâlcă (54 years old), the coach of Rapid, drew the first conclusions shortly after the failure in Bănie, 0-1, with Craiova, in the 5th stage of the Superliga play-off. He announced, towards the end of the intervention, that the players who cannot run will no longer perform from now on, without giving names.
Gâlcă analyzed with a bitter taste what happened in Bănie, considering that his team could have even won on the field of Olten, who returned to the first place in the ranking. He criticized the decisions made in the final third and the involvement of some of his students.
At 7 points away from 1st place, the title seems almost impossible to conquer. Gâlcă, however, is not thinking about such a thing, but only about a place in the European Cup.
Costel Gâlcă's reaction, after the failure in Craiova: “I tell you honestly, we could have won today, with the way we showed”
“I expected it to be a balanced match, decided at a fixed phase, we reacted, we had two opportunities to score, we made the wrong decisions, we didn't even have a shot on goal.
We focused on finishing, but we did too little in the match. The match was very balanced overall.
They had more achievements than other matches. I say we found solutions, Keita came in quite well as a number 6, he made that pointless foul at the start of the second half.
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.
We had a normal discussion at the end, everyone has to give more, the midfielders gave balance, but I think the others also have to give a lot more.
I tell you honestly, we could have won today, the way we looked, I was looking at the players how tired they were, but I didn't give them a problem. Even the defenders did not go up in the attack, to help, to put pressure.
I blocked them pretty well on the build, but I didn't have good decisions in the last third. I tell you that we will show with attitude, with ambition, with a lot of running in the field. Those who can run will enter.
From my point of view, and with the spike if he gave Christensen there and scored.
In general I say that we all need to run more, we all need to put a lot more, but in some games we fell short“, said Costel Gâlcă, after the match, on the show “Fotbal Club”, from Digi Sport.
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