April 23, 2025. Sports news round-up / last 24 hours

Tuesday was dominated by tensions, controversial decisions and disputes in football, handball and tennis. The domestic soccer scene is simmering with the end of the season approaching as Rapid Bucharest tries to capitalize on its last chance to go to the European Cup by winning the Romanian Cup. On the international front, Manchester City are trying to stay in a Premier League position that will allow them to qualify for the Champions League, while Barcelona continue their fight to win La Liga. At the same time, Romanian women's handball is shaping a new force, while in tennis, Sorana Cîrstea is off to a bad start to the clay court season, missing out on qualifying for the second round of the WTA Madrid tournament.

HOME FOOTBALL

• Rapid/Cupa României: Rapid and Hermannstadt will meet in the semi-final of the Romanian Cup, a one-sided match. The Giuleșteneri coach claims that his team has the second chance in the match against the Sibenians, and victory and a place in the final of the competition brings Rapid closer to qualifying for the European Cup.
• Petrolul Ploiești: Petrol coach Ciprian Panait has resigned from the team after just a week. Mehmet Topal refused to collaborate with the coach, his intention being only to use Panait's Pro license, which Panait disagreed with and resigned.

FOTBAL INTERNATIONAL

• Manchester City: Manchester City beat Aston Villa 2-1 to move up to third place in the Premier League.
• Barcelona: Barcelona maintain their lead over Real Madrid after narrowly defeating Mallorca, this season's La Liga revelation, 1-0.

Transfers

• Louis Munteanu: CFR Cluj president Cristi Balaj has said that negotiations are underway with a foreign team for the transfer of Louis Munteanu. Balaj claims that several offers have arrived on the club's address which are substantially higher than the amount publicly exposed by Gigi Becali, 3 million euros.

TENIS

• Sorana Cîrstea: Sorana Cîrstea failed to qualify for the second round of the WTA Madrid tournament. The Romanian fell to American Hailey Baptiste in three sets 2-6, 7-5, 6-7.

HANDBALL

• SCM Craiova: SCM Craiova has succeeded in the transfer of Polish left-swinger Natalia Nosek (26), who comes from Gloria Bistrița. Craiova is the most in-form team in the "Liga Florilor" and is emerging as a new force in Romanian women's handball.

Top Athletes and Teams

1. Rapid Bucharest
2. Louis Munteanu/CFR Cluj
3. Manchester City
4. SCM Craiova
5. Sorana Cîrstea

***** Synthesis made with the help of a monitoring feed provided by NewsVibe Romania. The top sports topics are identified from automated topic monitoring of mainstream media sources. The analysis, data and images presented have been enhanced using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.