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Former international football player Adrian Mutu said on Sunday in Cluj-Napoca that his greatest joy as a footballer was when he donned the national team jersey for the first time, and the saddest memories were when Romania failed to advance to the final stages of the World Cup, in a match with Denmark, but also when its club team, Fiorentina, failed to progress to the Europa League final.
"There are many pleasant moments, but the most important to me, as a player, was when I started for the national team and I donned the national team jersey for the first time. And there are more unpleasant ones, there are different defeats that I had. One, two that left a mark was the loss of the match against Denmark, if you remember, the failure to advance, and when we lost to Glasgow in the shoot-out, if I'm not mistaken, in the Europa League semi-finals, when I played for Fiorentina. Those were two defeats that hurt me a lot. There were two missed opportunities: one to play in a World Cup final and the other to play in a Europa League final," Mutu told a joint news conference with Gheorghe Hagi, his former coach Cesare Prandelli, and his former teammate, Fabio Cannavaro.
He thanked his fans and those taking part in his farewell match, Agerpres.ro informs.
"I am glad that my former teammates from the national side came, and also my friends and former teammates from abroad, and of course Gheorghe Hagi, the idol of my childhood," added Mutu.
Hagi told the news conference that Mutu was one of Romania's best football players of all time.
"I am glad to be here for Adi's celebration, for his farewell match. A fantastic player, an excellent player, a great personality, a number 10 who made a difference on the turf, a player who played for the Romanian side, who gave everything and who was successful, because football means success, football means high performance. (...) He is one of Romania's best football players of all time and on that, my congratulations, my full respect," said Hagi.
The third edition of the Sports Festival took place in Cluj-Napoca, June 9-12, and it included Adrian Mutu's farewell match on Sunday evening. Tennis player Horia Tecau's farewell match took place on Friday, an event where Simona Halep also participated, and Patrick Mouratoglou, Halep's current coach, gave a masterclass.
