Marked for Razvan Mitrita
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Astra have had the benefit of it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Astra
Borna Barišić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Astra are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
17 appearances away from home and 7 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Astra may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market28 Dec 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: La Equidad will make the call about Razvan Mitrita this week. Astra have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Astra training over how hard people work
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Squad
Marius Burca in a row with a teammate
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Marius Burca was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Razvan Mitrita has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Astra will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
Astra do the business in Europe
1‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Astra came through the finding-out well against OB.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Astra training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florin Maxim is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.77 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Astra had the best player on the pitch.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Júnior Franco will call it something else in private.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Razvan Mitrita signs something — a contract at Astra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
12 appearances at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia and the goals keep coming. Astra are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Nov 2026
Astra bow out of the cup
Dinamo Bucharest go through and Astra go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
A cup hiding at Dinamo Bucharest leaves Astra explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Borna Barišić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lucas Alaniz and Astra agree another 2 years.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Astra dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Razvan Mitrita has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Astra will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market23 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Florin Maxim’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
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Market
Astra shop where it costs nothing
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Player ratings
Seen enough of Vlad Hagi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
16 matches without a win for Astra
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Astra are no longer polite ones.
Match7 Nov 2026
2‑2 against Rio Ave, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Alexandru Burca was at the centre of the description.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Razvan Mitrita takes the afternoon — 8.62
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Razvan Mitrita provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Dragos Dragusin at 19 — 8.22
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dragos Dragusin did not need any: 8.22, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Alexandru Burca scored one and made one — 7.83
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.83, and 2 involvements.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Astra
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match7 Nov 2026
Razvan Mitrita scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Botosani, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Astra
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Santeri Väänänen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
Florin Maxim scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Voluntari, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Astra told Santeri Väänänen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The team sheet said everything about Norbert Szélpál
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Norbert Szélpál.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Dragos Dragusin named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dragos Dragusin is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Astra's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Astra has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Oct 2026
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match24 Oct 2026
A chastening European night for Astra
0‑4 against Rio Ave. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Florin Maxim falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
Doors closed at Astra
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
A chastening European night for Astra
0‑3 against Young Boys. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for Astra
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Astra are no longer polite ones.
Match3 Oct 2026
Astra are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match3 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Astra
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Astra can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Astra training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florin Maxim is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match3 Oct 2026
Viitorul left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
Vlad Keseru hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astra can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Cristian Ratiu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market7 Sep 2026
Baltika are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Astra will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Astra sell a favourite for $2.3M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Claudiu Balasa was one of the reasons people came, and $2.3M does not replace that by itself.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Hajduk Split have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marius Puscas. The answer from Astra has not changed — yet.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market24 Aug 2026
Viitorul pay $830.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Astra training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Puscas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Universitatea Craiova, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Razvan Mitrita
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Squad
The division's best last weekend was a Astra man
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Aug 2026
7‑0, and Razvan Mitrita took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Astra tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.48, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 Aug 2026
Astra say no — this time
The offer from Dinamo Bucharest for Claudiu Balasa was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Razvan Mitrita, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
Razvan Mitrita among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Razvan Mitrita on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Astra and Petrolul.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Razvan Mitrita was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.84. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Astra supporters have found a favourite in Florin Maxim
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Florin Maxim has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Claudiu Balasa, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
$14.3M from Crvena Zvezda for Razvan Balasa. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Market10 Aug 2026
Astra say no — this time
The offer from Lokomotiva Zagreb for Razvan Mitrita was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $14.3M sale of Razvan Balasa
He is going to Crvena Zvezda, the club has $14.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marius Puscas and Astra agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Claudiu Balasa falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Borna Barišić, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Ovidiu Iancu is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Astra has been clear about where Ovidiu Iancu stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
6 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match1 Aug 2026
17‑0, and Razvan Balasa took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Astra tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
5 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad3 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Astra have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.