Cătălin Munteanu

Cătălin Constantin Munteanu (born 26 January 1979) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, currently assistant coach at Liga I club Petrolul Ploiești.

Club career

Munteanu, nicknamed "Cap de Zmeu" ''(Head of Zmeu)'' was born on 26 January 1979 in Bucharest. He started to play senior football at Steaua București, making his Divizia A debut under coach Dumitru Dumitriu on 16 March 1997 in a 3–1 victory against Rapid București. In his first season spent at the club, he helped the team win The Double, making 12 league appearances and scoring five goals, also Dumitriu sent him on the field in the 84th minute to replace Sabin Ilie in the 4–2 victory against Național București from the Cupa României final. In the following season he helped Steaua win another title, this time under the guidance of coach Mihai Stoichiță, being the team's top-scorer with 17 goals scored in 33 matches, including one in a 3–1 win over rivals Dinamo București. Also he started to play in European competitions, scoring one goal in his debut in the first leg of the 5–3 victory on aggregate against CSKA Sofia in the 1997–98 Champions League first qualifying round and two goals that helped the team get past Bastia with the away goal rule in the 3–3 on aggregate in the second round of the 1997–98 UEFA Cup.

Salamanca paid €3.6 million for Munteanu's transfer from Steaua in 1998, making his La Liga debut on 30 August under coach Miguel Ángel Russo in a 0–0 against Mallorca. He scored his first goal in the competition in a 2–1 home loss to Real Zaragoza. The team relegated at the end of his first season but he stayed with the club in the second league until 2001, being colleague with fellow Romanians Bogdan Stelea and Lucian Marinescu, also during that time the club was nicknamed "Salamanca Rumana", because Ovidiu Stîngă and Gabriel Popescu also played for the club around that period. He was bought by Atlético Madrid, but did not play a single game there, being loaned for one season at Espanyol Barcelona in La Liga and then at Albacete where he played for two seasons, in the first one he helped the club promote from the second division to the first. Afterwards he went to play for Real Murcia in the Segunda División where he suffered a knee injury that kept him off the field for six months.

Munteanu went back to Romania in the middle of the 2005–06 season, signing with Dinamo București. In the following season under the guidance of coach Mircea Rednic he scored four goals in 32 appearances, including opening the score with a spectacular shot from 27 meters in a 4–2 victory in a derby against Steaua, helping the team win the title. He also appeared in 12 matches in which he netted three goals, including one in the 3–1 loss on aggregate against Benfica as the club reached the sixteenths-finals of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup. Afterwards, Dinamo had the objective of reaching the Champions League group stage, Munteanu playing in the second leg of the third qualifying round against Lazio Roma, which however was lost with 4–2 on aggregate. In 2008, he left Dinamo to go play for two seasons at FC Brașov, after which he came back to play for ''The Red Dogs'' for a second spell of four seasons. Munteanu helped Dinamo win the 2011–12 Cupa României, being sent on the field in the 71st minute by coach Dario Bonetti to replace Ionel Dănciulescu in the 1–0 victory from the final against Rapid București. Afterwards Bonetti used him all the minutes in the victory at the penalty shoot-out against CFR Cluj from the 2012 Supercupa României where Munteanu netted his shot. In 2014 he left Dinamo, ending his career by playing another half of year at FC Brașov and a half a year at Viitorul Constanța where on 15 March 2015 he made his last Liga I appearance in a 2–1 away victory against CFR Cluj. Munteanu has a total of 56 matches and four goals scored in La Liga, 107 matches and 19 goals in Segunda División, 280 games and 37 goals in Liga I and 36 games played with eight goals netted in European competitions.

International career

Munteanu played 17 matches and scored one goal for Romania, making his debut on 19 November 1997, when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him on the field in order to replace Viorel Moldovan at half-time in a friendly which ended 1–1 against Spain played on Lluís Sitjar Stadium from Palma de Mallorca. He played four games and scored one goal at the successful Euro 2000 qualifiers, but was not a part of the squad that went at the final tournament. He played five games at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, including his last appearance for the national team which took place on 2 June 2001 in a 2–0 victory against Hungary.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Munteanu goal.''

Honours

Steaua București
*Divizia A: 1996–97, 1997–98
*Cupa României: 1996–97
Dinamo București
*Liga I: 2006–07
*Cupa României: 2011–12
*Supercupa României: 2012

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munteanu, Catalin
1979 births
Living people
Footballers from Bucharest
Romanian men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Romania men's international footballers
Romania men's under-21 international footballers
FCSB players
UD Salamanca players
Atlético Madrid footballers
RCD Espanyol footballers
Albacete Balompié players
Real Murcia CF players
FC Dinamo București players
FC Brașov (1936) players
FC Viitorul Constanța players
Liga I players
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Romanian expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Spain
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Romanian football managers
FC Petrolul Ploiești managers