Laurentiu Popescu vs. Marian Aioani: who who » What the numbers say + The verdict of a former goalkeeper: “Great injustice!”

On Friday, Hagi announced a squad consisting of 31 players, of which 12 from the Superliga and 19 from abroad. And most of them come from Craiova University, a team that produces 6 internationals. Among them is not the goalkeeper Laurentiu Popescu, who lost the battle with Marian Aioani (Rapid) and Otto Hindrich (Legia).

• Georgia – Romania is played in Tbilisi, on June 2, from 20:00. The match will be broadcast on TV on Antena 1;
• Romania – Wales will be played on June 6, from 20:45, in Bucharest, at the Steaua stadium. The game will be broadcast on Prima TV;
• Both games of the Romanian national team in June can be watched in liveTEXT format on GSP.ro.

Laurentiu Popescu vs. Marian Aioani » What the numbers say

Laurentiu Popescu and Marian Aioani are two of the goalkeepers who have shown very good moments this season. The goalkeeper of the University of Craiova collected 17 matches in the championship, after Isenko was the first option in the first part of the season, while Aioani had no competition at Rapid, making 31 appearances.

Gazeta Sporturilor consulted the Wyscout report and analyzed the performances of the two Superliga goalkeepers who were in Gică Hagi's opinion. The bottom line? The two have similar figures, Popescu has on his side the trophies won by Craiova and the fact that he was decisive in the Cup.

In total, Marian Aioani ticked 2854 minutes, in which he collected 32 goals, from 118 shots against and an xCG of 39.31. Which means that he came to the rescue in 7 situations where there was a high chance for the opponent to score. And throughout the season he had 86 saves (61.6% of them being from the reflex). He was also good in the passing game. An accuracy of 98.5% (out of 526) of short passes and 62.1% (out of 182) of long passes.

Laurentiu Popescu has played 1594 minutes in the championship. He conceded 9 goals, from an xCG of 7.86 and from 31 shots received. During the matches he had 22 saves (54.5% of the reflex). He was perfect at short passes, all 191 passes sent reached a colleague, and of the 107 long passes attempted, 66.4% were accurate.

Laurentiu Popescu, decisive at the end of the season

Although he started the season as Isenko's backup, the 29-year-old goalkeeper became a key man in the success of Olten, especially in the final of the Romanian Cup. In the semifinal with Dinamo, he defended two penalty kicks (Milanov and Armstrong), and in the final with U Cluj he saved the execution of Iulian Cristea, sending the Cup to Craiova.

“A great injustice”

In a dialogue with Gazeta Sporturilor, Dumitru Stângaciu commented on the failure to summon Laurentiu Popescu, which he describes as “a great injustice”.

“I find it strange that Popescu was not summoned. When someone wins the Cup and the championship, you have to give them their due. It must be rewarded. I'm not talking about Aioani's value, but a goalkeeper who has won trophies must be rewarded. He needs to be given a chance to compete with other goalkeepers and show his worth.

I haven't worked with any of them, I don't know them personally, but I say what I see. It seems to me a great injustice. I don't understand what it was and why he wasn't summoned. But Popescu had to be rewarded. That's my opinion. The man has won two medals this season. He did something. That medals and trophies are not found on the street. It is earned through hard work and sweat. And how do you reward him?”, said Stângaciu for Gazeta Sporturilor