The Astra Chronicle
Market17 Aug 2026
CFR Cluj come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Astra did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Andrei Burca
There were 7 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Claudiu Maxim
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
Alexandru Puscas attracts admirers
The name of Alexandru Puscas has come up in conversations Astra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Luiz Porto 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mihai Burca 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
The afternoon belonged to Alexandru Puscas
A mark of 7.98, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match15 Aug 2026
Alexandru Puscas rescues a point for Astra
It needed Alexandru Puscas to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Petrolul, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad17 Aug 2026
No hiding place for Ianis Nedelcearu
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ianis Nedelcearu, and the manager let it.
In brief
- Market Éder Munive brings the grey hairs Astra lacked
- Market The shop window has Ianis Nedelcearu in it