Athlete of the week

Footballer Valentin Mihăilă

Florin Orban, 20.06.2023, 13:45

Romania’s
football team drew against Switzerland, 2-all in Lucerne on Monday, in the
qualifiers for next year’s European Championships. The Romanians put up an unimpressive,
disorganised performance, with poor defence and next to no attack. The hosts
scored first on 28 minutes, thanks to Zeki Amdouni, who also scored the second
goal on 41 minutes. In the second half, the game was slightly more balanced,
although the Swiss were still better. On 81 minutes, the referee gave the hosts
a penalty kick, but the decision was reverted following video review.

Just one
minute before full time, Valentin Mihăilă scored for Romania, and he did the
same 3 minutes later, securing Romania a draw that no one was still hoping for.
Radio România International designates Valentin Mihăilă as Athlete of the Week.

Valentin
Mihăilă was born on 2 February, 2000, in Târgovişte (south). He made his debut
with Universitatea Craiova, at the age of 17, in a Romanian Cup match against
Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe, which his team won 2-0. He only played in the first team
one year later, but he also played in the Europa League qualifiers, which
Craiova lost, 1 – 3, to RB Leipzig.

In 2020 Valentin
Mihăilă was transferred to Parma in a EUR 8.5 million transaction, one of the
largest sums ever paid for a Romanian top league player. He was briefly lent to
Atalanta in 2022, but after an unconvincing stint he returned to Parma. His
debut with the national team was in March 2021, in Bucharest, in a game against
North Macedonia in which he managed to score. (AMP)