The shitshow is here! For the 3rd game in a row since the start of the season, FC Arges manager Ionut Badea subs off a youngster inside THE FIRST MINUTE of the game. Absolutely incredible. pic.twitter.com/0UDyoNFSeh
— Emanuel Roşu (@Emishor) September 11, 2020
Romanian Liga I side Argeș Pitești made a 1st minute substitution for a third consecutive match when they took on UTA Arad on Friday.
The team’s manager Ionuț Badea has been circumnavigating a rule that starting line-ups should contain at least two U-21 players.
He has 1 point after 3 games, so we won't have to see him doing this much longer I suppose
— AndreiG (@AndreiG5) September 12, 2020
He’s not the only one who has been doing so – former Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday defender Dan Petrescu, now CFR Cluj boss, recently made a sub after just 25 seconds.
Press reaction in Romania has been explosive, with the loophole substitutions being portrayed as humiliating for the youngsters.