Marked for Bogdan Moldovan
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Daniel Marin in a row with a teammate
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
Cristian 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Universitatea Craiova left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Daniel Marin 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Florin Ştefan 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Petrolul, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.95 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Astra had the best player on the pitch.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefan Chiriches, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Ramon
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Player ratings
The referee tires of Bogdan Bancu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Bogdan Moldovan out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Astra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Daniel Marin in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Florin Hagi, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
9 new faces, and Astra are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 7.31. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match10 Oct 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. CFR Cluj defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Daniel Marin 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Florin Hagi and Astra agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Astra training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Balasa 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
It finished 2‑0, and it was Claudiu Stanciu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Astra.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Claudiu Stanciu at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Astra.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
The pass was always on for Ramon
Chances created: 9. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
Market5 Oct 2026
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Facundo Forestieri is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Astra's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Astra has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Daniel Marin in a row with a teammate
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Astra cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Astra training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florin Ştefan 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Bogdan Bancu gets it from the manager
“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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 8. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Fouls conceded: 8. Some of it was commitment and some of it was frustration, and the free-kick count did not distinguish between the two.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Daniel Marin 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 Sep 2026
Florin Ştefan 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Astra
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Astra against FCSB
0‑1 to FCSB, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Florin Ştefan 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Cristian 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The pass was always on for Ramon
Chances created: 12. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
Squad14 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Pandurii defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.