Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Monday, January 26, 2026 22:43 / Updated Monday, January 26, 2026 22:44
Adrian Mihalcea (49 years old), the coach of UTA, analyzed defeat suffered with Rapid, 1-2after his team was in the lead for more than 20 minutes.
Marius Coman's goal gave UTA the lead over Rapid, but Alexandru Dobre (43rd minute, from the penalty) and Leo Bolgado ('79) reversed the result.
Adrian Mihalcea feels that the changes made along the way, the quality that Rapid injected from the bench, are what made the difference today.
Adrian Mihalcea, after UTA – Rapid: “Individual quality decided the match”
“Overall I think we played a good game. The second half was much more consistent, but maybe we opened up too much. It was a transition game. The individual quality of the players decided this game. I'm happy with the attitude of the boys.
Unfortunately, I'm sad that it's the second game we've conceded from stoppage time. It's hard to digest, but we continue this work. Nothing is finished. I met a good team with quality.
Penalty? First of all, I'm not a referee. I no longer know when it's a hent, when it's awarded, but I give credit to the referees. That's their problem. Today it happened against us, maybe in other matches these things will be on our side. The important thing is to be able to forget the result of this match and go to the next match to win the points lost today.
That's not why we lost, but maybe because of the quality of some players. When we started changing both us and them, some difference was seen. But I think it's good that we hoped and wanted until the last moment”, commented Mihalcea to PrimaSport.
With a win today, UTA would have climbed to 6th placeplay-off position. So, remains one point below Steelthe one that ended stage 23 in the last play-off place.
“It is an extremely crowded area. It is not necessary to make calculations now. We are thinking about what we have to do. The important thing is to recover from a physical point of view and to show the same determination, the same will in the match against FC Argeș.
It's nice what's next. We have important matches, I'll keep you tuned. Whoever will come out well from this round of matches can hope for the top places. We are in a good, quiet area. I see that we have the power and the desire to keep winning points.
I wouldn't want us to have extraordinarily high illusions and then not reach their goal. Not. With us, everything is calculated. We are disappointed tonight, but from tomorrow we will start working again, and in the next stages we will certainly regain the points”, said Mihalcea.
Asked at the end if the title will be a deal between the University of Craiova, Rapid and Dinamo, Mihalcea answered:
“They broke away at the top of the ranking, but at any moment other teams can appear. They have consistency in the game, valuable lots and it seems that they, at the moment, are fighting for the championship. So, for the play-offs, there are more.”
We didn't deserve to lose today. My opinion is that it was granted very easily. I told the referee that my hand was close to my body. I turned my body. He showed me that the hand would not have been near the body, but I saw the phase again. My opinion is that it was granted very easily.
– Dmytro Pospyelov, UTA defender
