Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Friday, 24 April 2026, 07:56 / Updated Friday, 24 April 2026 07:56
Aurel Țicleanu (67 years old), a member of Craiova Maxima, was delighted with Matteo Duțu (20). Dinamo's young stopper played more than 75 minutes in Romanian Cup semi-finallost by the “dogs” in the shootout against the University of Craiova, 1-4, after 1-1 until then.
Injuries forced Zeljko Kopic to make two changes in the first half of the semi-final. Andrei Mărginean and Raul Opruț left, Armstrong and Țicu entered.
At the break, Dinamo's coach chose to stick to the game formula and took out a winger, Musi, to bring in a third stopper, Matteo Duțu. “We made the change to change the system because they were sending balls between the lines,” explained Kopic after the match.
Duțu's performance in the more than 75 minutes spent on the field delighted Aurel Țicleanu. The component of the legendary Craiova Maxima generation spoke in laudatory terms about the stopper brought by Dinamo from Milan.
Aurel Țicleanu wanted to praise the dynamist Duțu: “I liked it, bravo!”
“I liked this child, Duțu. He had [în față] two players with great experience, but he took the foreground, held them back. Sir, I liked it. Bravo! He comes from Italy, there is the defender's school. If you come out of that defense school and you don't know what to do, you've wasted your time.
But I liked this kid. Well done to him. I see it… and it might be an idea. I think that [Dinamo] they have to catch the European cups. With the problems he has in the forwards, he might score hard or from set pieces. Then the first condition is not to score.
It went in really well, I mean. I liked it”, said Țicleanu to PrimaSport.
It was only Duțu's sixth appearance in Dinamo's shirt, following the January transfer. In the play-off he was used only once, at 2-3 with Rapid, a match in which he was eliminated. He missed the next two rounds, then was benched for the final two rounds.
