“He did it out of stupidity, not malice!”

What happened? Tavi Popescu caused controversy on social networks after he was amused by the extended squad called by Gheorghe Hagi to the national team. The footballer shared on Instagram the post from the Superliga, which announced the players from the internal competition for the action in June, accompanied by several laughing emoticons, but the reaction was deleted shortly after.

Gigi Becali had a harsh and at the same time ironic message to his player, condemning the fact that he allowed himself to laugh at other colleagues who reach the national team while his evolutions are modest and there is no way he is in the national team's plan.

Gigi Becali took on Tavi Popescu, after he laughed at Hagi's selection

“I haven't seen the list, he'd do well to start playing football, not to laugh at others. He didn't get to laugh at other footballers, he's not at this level. Let me tell you one more thing, don't take him in a bad name. This is worse, he didn't do it out of malice, he did it out of stupidity, that's why he ended up doing something like that. How to do such a thing? You've never been there, how could you?

Ah, if he had 30-50 selections, 7 goals, look sir, where I've been, what I've achieved, but he wasn't even there and why laugh? There's no way, she has impressions of him and that's serious. That's why I'm sorry, lately he's been moving better, but it's one thing to move with talent, another to show strength, to have strength. He shows the talent he has, that's all, but you have to play football with strength.

I mean football power. He should at least use the power he has, he doesn't use force. Mr. Paraschivescu understands better, I speak in philosophical terms, he should understand me better. Power in football means scoring goals, assists. Not achievements, power to have, I use the word power, dribbles, goalscoring passes, power is power”, said Gigi Becali, Thursday evening, on the show “Footbal Club”, from Digi Sport.

• The last appearance of Octavian Popescu for the first representative of the Romanian national team took place on March 28, 2023, in the 2-1 victory against Belarus, in the preliminaries for EURO 2024. Then, the footballer entered the field in the 65th minute, from the reserve position.

• In total, the winger from FCSB has 7 selections for the Romanian senior national team, without a goal or decisive assist.

• His debut in the first national team occurred on March 25, 2022, in a friendly match lost by Romania against Greece, score 0-1. Popescu then replaced Alexandru Mitriță in the 62nd minute.

The players from the Superliga on the list of the selector Gheorghe Hagi

• FC Hermannstadt – Kevin Ciubotaru

• Dinamo Bucharest – Raul Opruț, Cătălin Cîrjan FC Argeș – Mario Tudose, Yanis Pîrvu

• CFR Cluj – Andrei Cordea, Lorenzo Biliboc, Mihai Popa, Matei Ilie

• Constanta Lighthouse – Denis Alibec

• Rapid Bucharest – Claudiu Petrila, Denis Ciobotariu, Marian Aioani, Andrei Borza, Olimpiu Moruțan, Alex Dobre

• Cluj University – Andrei Coubiș

• FCSB – Florin Tanase, David Miculescu, Mihai Popescu, Darius Olaru

• University of Craiova – Laurentiu Popescu, Nicușor Bancu, Adrian Rus, Vladimir Screciu, Tudor Băluță, Alexandru Cicâldău, Ștefan Baiaram, Luca Băsceanu, David Matei