Marked for Danilo Freitas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
Valentin Creţu 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Marin 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Vlad Bancu
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Petrolul may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ianis Tanase 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 Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Stefan Marin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Petrolul
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Petrolul are no longer polite ones.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Petrolul game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Bucharest runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Vlad Bancu runs at them all day
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Marius Maxim 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mihai Dragusin, and the manager let it.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. FCSB will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Oct 2026
Cosmin Puscas 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 Petrolul can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ianis Tanase and Petrolul agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Marin 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
Cosmin Tanase scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Pandurii, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 49. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Sep 2026
Petrolul up to position 3
12 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ianis Tanase 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Voluntari leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Danilo Freitas dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Remus Guţea 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.