The Athlete of the Week

Football player Darius Olaru

Florin Orban, 01.10.2024, 13:45

FCSB started their Europa League main group run with a win. The Bucharest-based side defeated the Latvian side RFS 4-1 at home. This was one of the biggest goal differences in the first leg of the competition, after Ajax Amsterdam’s 4-nil win against the Turkish side Beşiktaş. The Romanian champions pulled off one of their best matches this season. Daniel Bîrligea and Marius Ştefănescu scored once and Darius Olaru scored twice, while Ziga Lipuscek scored for the Latvian side. Radio Romania International has designated Darius Olaru the athlete of the week for his excellent performance and the two goals scored.

In the match against RFS, Olaru was the team captain, despite the presence of Vlad Chiricheş, FCSB’s player with the biggest number of caps for the national side. Olaru scored both goals in the second half. The first came on minute 58, as FCSB were leading 2-1, after a pass from Florin Tănase. Leading by two goals, the Romanian side were more relaxed and 69 minutes into the match Olaru scored again, after a pass from Alexandru Băluţă. A quarter of an hour later, Olaru was replaced by Daniel Popa, leaving the pitch amid cheers from the entire stadium.

Darius Olaru was born on 3^rd March 1990 in Mediaş, in the centre. He began his career playing as a junior for the local side Gaz Metan, where he also made his official debut at 17, in the second tier, against UTA Arad, which they won 2-1. A year later, he played in the first league with Gaz Metan, which had in the meantime advanced to the first tier league. On 23^rd May 2017, Olaru scored his first goal in the First League, from penalty, in a match his side won 3-nil against Concordia Chiajna. In 2020, he joined FCSB. On 27^th August, he made his debut in European competitions, scoring a goal against the Armenian side Shirak, in the first Europa League qualifying round. He played his first match for the national side on 2^nd June 2021 in a friendly match the team lost to Georgia 1-2. Olaru has 22 caps for Romania, two this autumn in the Nations League. He got on the pitch in the second half, both in the match won 3-nil against Kosovo and in the match won 3-1 against Lithuania.