There was little indication at half-time of the heavy blow awaiting us away to UTA. Our performance completely collapsed in the second half, however, and despite Márton Eppel pulling one back, we left Arad with our heaviest defeat of the season so far.

There was little indication at half-time of the heavy blow awaiting us away to UTA. Our performance completely collapsed in the second half, however, and despite Márton Eppel pulling one back, we left Arad with our heaviest defeat of the season so far.

Almost exactly eighty years ago, on 1 September 1946, the first match was played at the ground built on the site of the current stadium in Arad, which was then known as the ITA Stadium. In the inaugural fixture, UTA – then called ITA – defeated Bucharest side Ciocanul 1–0. On the anniversary of the stadium’s opening, FK Csíkszereda hoped to spoil the hosts’ celebrations.

We were in even greater need of points, having entered the match in Arad bottom of the table with just one point after seven rounds. Once again, our team was not without support: despite the considerable distance, members of the Lokálpatrióták Csíkszereda supporters’ group travelled to the match in good numbers and were joined by FK supporters from the surrounding area.

We made a brave start, and in the sixth minute Márton Eppel headed narrowly wide following Albert Stahl’s cross from the right. Four minutes later, the ball was in our net, but Marius Coman had strayed offside and the goal was disallowed. The Csíkszereda net rippled again in the 13th minute following a header from Peter Ouaneh. The assistant raised his flag once more, and after a lengthy VAR review and the drawing of the offside lines, the on-field decision was upheld.

The hosts came closest to opening the scoring in the 29th minute, when Mino Sota unleashed a shot from around forty metres which struck the crossbar. Three minutes later, Eduard Pap was powerless to intervene: after a slick one-touch move involving Jayson Papeau, Alin Roman and Marius Coman, the home side’s centre-forward found the bottom of our net from close range.

The first half therefore ended with Arad leading 1–0. There was also a highly unusual incident at the end of the period, as the referee blew for half-time before we were able to take the corner that had been awarded.

We began the second half with a free kick. Szilárd Veres was brought down twenty metres from goal, but Alex Szabó was unable to hit the target. The hosts doubled their advantage in the 50th minute when Hakim Abdallah fired an unstoppable shot into our net from a low cross.

In the 63rd minute, Coman struck the post after being played through by Papeau. Marinos Tzionis, who had only recently come on, reacted quickest to the rebound and scored UTA’s third. We responded two minutes later: fellow substitute Ádám Czékus delivered an accurate cross, and Márton Eppel met it well to head home from close range.

In the 70th minute, our former academy player Omar El Sawy, who is on loan at UTA from Rapid, made his debut for the Arad side. At the start of the closing stages, there was still hope that we might reduce the deficit. In the 78th minute, Eppel headed straight into Andrei Gorcea’s hands from close range following Alex Szabó’s cross from the left. Two minutes later, the home goalkeeper tipped Mátyás Tajti’s promising long-range effort behind for a corner.

UTA launched a counter-attack after the resulting corner, however. Mino Sota raced clear to face Pap one-on-one and managed to find the back of our net. That was not the end of it: three minutes later, we lost possession inside our own half, and Andrea Padula’s deflected long-range strike beat Eduard Pap for a fifth time.

Tzionis could have added a sixth goal for the hosts in the 85th minute, but Pap made the save on this occasion. After witnessing the severe second-half collapse, the Lokálpatrióták supporters did not wait for the final whistle.

After the match, István Szabó congratulated UTA on their deserved victory, while stressing that the events of the game would need to be analysed in detail.

“It was only 1–0 at half-time, but we completely fell apart in the second half. At 3–1, we had an opportunity to close the gap when Márton Eppel – who I thought played well and was a constant threat – headed towards goal from a very good position. That could have been a turning point, but overall it does not change the fact that the home side deserved to win,” our head coach said.

The head coach believes the reasons behind the collapse must also be identified because we had played much tighter matches with a back three in recent weeks.

“We suffered one-goal defeats in our previous four or five matches and also recorded a goalless draw. We need to examine what caused this performance. I never criticise my players in public. I am the head coach of the team, so naturally the responsibility lies with me,” István Szabó said.

Our team will next take to the pitch at 9 p.m. on Friday, 11 September, when we host Dinamo Bucharest at the Csíkszereda Municipal Stadium in the ninth round of the Superliga regular season.

Superliga, regular season, round 8

AFC UTA Arad–FK Csíkszereda 5–1 (1–0)

Arad, Francisc Neuman Arena, 5 September 2026, 5.30 p.m.

Referee: Iulian Călin
Assistant referees: Radu Adrian Ghinguleac, Ionuț Traian Neacșu
Fourth official: Claudiu Găitin
VAR: Sorin Costreie
AVAR: Cristina Mariana Trandafir
Match observer: Ion Craiu
Referee observer: Octavian Șovre

Goalscorers: Coman (32), Abdallah (50), Tzionis (63), Mino Sota (81), Padula (84); Eppel (65).
Yellow cards: Alomerović (34); Veres (54).

AFC UTA Arad: Gorcea Andrei Cristian – Dorobanțu Andrei Cristian, Benga Alexandru Constantin (c), Ouaneh Peter, Alomerović Din (Padula Andrea, 58) – Mino Sota, Roman Alin – Țăroi Denis Alberto Ionuț (Tzionis Marinos, 58), Papeau Jayson Jordan Julien Romain (Ivanov Antoni Valeri, 79), Abdallah Hakim Djamel (El Sawy Omar, 70) – Coman Marius Cătălin (Sinani Ismet, 79).
Head coach: Mihalcea Dumitru Adrian.

FK Csíkszereda: Pap Eduard Adrian – Szabó Alex, Palmeș Raul Ioan, Hegedűs János Krisztián, Pászka Lóránd – Veres Szilárd (c) (Tajti Mátyás, 72), Horváth Artúr (Czékus Ádám, 62) – Stahl Albert Tivadar (Szalay Szabolcs, 79), Trif Răzvan Alin, Tóth-Pál Előd (Bota Darius Cristian, 61) – Eppel Márton.
Head coach: Szabó István.

Rédai Attila
Photo: UTA Arad