“The title would be the icing on the cake after 22 years in Romania!”

For the fourth time in the GSP project, Cristiano Bergodi is designated “Coach of the month”, this time with Cluj University, after the awards won with Sepsi and Rapid.

The Italian finished the previous month in first place in the play-offs, being the only one not to lose a match in March.

Wins on the line with FCSB, CFR Cluj and FC Argeș, plus qualification to the semi-finals of the Romanian Cup, after another success, with Hermannstadt.

Bergodi has radically transformed the University and, after being one step away from getting his hands on the title with Craiova, now he wants to go down in history and award his first title with the “red caps”.

VIDEO. Cristiano Bergodi: “No one asked me for this when I came, but now we are a family!”

– Mr. Bergodi, congratulations! You are March's coach of the month, the only coach and the only undefeated team. How was the month of March and how is this championship madness that you are experiencing at full intensity?
– It was a beautiful month for us, for U Cluj, because we had, as you said, victories in a row… About four I think, and then it was a very beautiful period.

– Is it nice to be in the first place in the Superliga?
– Yes, it's beautiful, yes. It's normal that when you're high, you're in first or second or third place… The first three places that allow you to return at least to the European cups, that is very important for us.

– Four trophies for you: two with Sepsi and one with Rapid.
– The players and the staff helped me a lot. In practice, they are the main actors and first of all I want to share this trophy with my players. Secondly, I also want to share it with my assistants, Eugeniu Cebotaru and Luigi Ciarlantini. I was out of the reserve bench for over a month and they replaced me very well. I'm glad and I want to thank them because it's also their work together. I repeat, when we are a family, this is very important for the team.

“We put pressure on ourselves!”

– The atmosphere is very good, isn't it?
– The atmosphere is good, morale is good, the players are all confident. And we the staff, everyone there. We are living a very good time and we hope it will continue to be so.

– Is it easier to train a team that is on the rise?
– No, it's not easy. It's not easy because there's always pressure and especially now because we're up there in the rankings. But passion always gives you pressure, and even if you stand lower or higher, it doesn't matter. We put pressure on ourselves because we love this job and anyway what we have done so far is all the credit to my players.

– Has the atmosphere in the city changed? Do the supporters of the University look at you, at the players, differently?
– I don't know… When we played the last matches there, for example the derby with CFR, there were a lot of people at the stadium. It's normal, on the streets it's still not like that. We have many working hours we have there at the stadium. But I think the fans are very happy with what their team is doing.

4 trophieswon Cristiano Bergodi as a coach in Romania: 2 Cups with Sepsi Sf. Gheorghe (2021-2022 and 2022-2023), plus 2 Supercups – with Rapid (2007-2008) and Sepsi Sf. Gheorghe (2022-2023)

– You have the Cup, the Supercup on your CV in Romania. What would the title mean for coach Bergodi?
– It would be, how can you say, a cherry on the cake, right? After so many years here in Romania, 21-22 years, at least I can modestly think about something important, very important. But first of all, we try to play anyway, to be modest, humble, because our goal is to at least return to the European cups.

“The goals haven't changed! I was asked to turn the team around”

– You have experienced players in the dressing room. How much does this help you? Nistor, Chipciu…
– Yes, they are good players. It's a mix of experienced and young players and very good foreign players. And that makes me happy. I have a united group, a receptive group and in any discussion they understand very well. I mean, it's a group that works, works every day and very well. I mean, it's a united group. When you are a family, that means the group, the unity of the group is very important.

– The schedule for April is almost extremely complicated for you. Five games this month, because you also have the Cup. How do you make your plan?
– In the long term it does not exist. Match by match, we play match by match. We always think to do as much as possible, that is, to make our supporters happy and to play good football. We are there, we are trying again and again to achieve a goal which would be fantastic if we get there in the top three.

– Have the goals changed since the beginning of the season or have they remained the same?
– No, the objectives have not changed. When I came, no one asked me to enter, for example, in the play-offs. There was trying to restore a team that was going through such a difficult period. And then they didn't ask me, the club didn't put pressure on me at all. And then we slowly got there, entered the play-offs, which was the first objective. And it's normal that we are now also playing in the play-offs there and trying to make a good impression.

16.70 croresis the value of the players from Cluj University, according to the specialized website transfermarkt.com. The best rated footballer in Bergodi's team is the Bosnian Jovo Lukic (1.5 million euros)

“It's a close play-off, a lot can happen!”

– What would an event mean?
– It's too… too far! It doesn't exist for us. We are a working team, I mean a team that is now sitting up there, but every week a lot can happen. It's a lot of head-to-head, I mean head-to-head, being second, third… you can go even lower. It's a close, very important play-off and then every team has a chance to do something extraordinary.

– Access to European cups is easier from the Cup.
– Well, naturally, we have this semi-final of the Cup with Argeș, where we will meet a team, we saw a very difficult play-off championship match there. I won with a bit of luck. And a very difficult match awaits us, but we are trying, we are playing to make another final, at least in Sibiu. Where I already played with Sepsi against U Cluj. See what happens, how life is, how things turn around. I also hope that we at least get to play in a final, but I repeat, the path is on the one hand in the play-offs and in the Cup, we can at least reach the European cups.

For this category, Gazeta nominated 3 technicians: Cristiano Bergodi (U Cluj), Florin Bratu (Metaloglobus) and Bogdan Andone (FC Argeș).

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