This week we
\nmarked 34 years since one of the greatest achievements ever to be recorded in
\nRomanian football. On May 7, 1986, on Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Seville,
\nSteaua Bucharest defeated FC Barcelona in the final of the European Champion’s
\nCup, thus becoming the first team from Eastern Europe to win the prestigious
\ntrophy.<\/p>\n
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Steaua had
\nreached the finals after brushing aside Vejle Bold Club of Denmark, Hungary’s
\nHonved Budapest, the Finnish club Kuusisi Lahti and Anderlecht Brussels of
\nBelgium. The match against the latter was reportedly the best performance of a
\nRomanian football team in European inter-club competitions.<\/p>\n
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\n
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The final
\nagainst Barcelona was played away from home. Steaua played before a 40-thousand-strong
\nSpanish crowd that had come to cheer their team towards its first victory in
\nthe Champions’ Cup. Steaua’s lineup included Helmut Duckadam, \u015etefan Iovan,
\nAdrian Bumbescu, Miodrag Belodedici, Ilie B\u0103rbulescu, Gavril\u0103 Balint, Ladislau
\nB\u00f6l\u00f6ni, \u015etefan Majearu, Lucian B\u0103lan, Marius L\u0103c\u0103tu\u015f, Victor Pi\u0163urc\u0103, Marin
\nRadu (also known as Radu 2) and Anghel Iord\u0103nescu. Sitting on Steaua’s bench
\nwas headcoach Emerich Jenei, co-assisted by Iord\u0103nescu. The biggest absence in
\nthe first team lineup was the team captain, the very man who had had a solid
\ncontribution to the team’s road to the final: Tudorel Stoica. <\/p>\n
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\n
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Barcelona turned
\nout to be a tough nut to crack for Steaua, but our team eventually displayed
\nsuperior technical prowess. The players defended well and mounted good
\ncounter-attacks. 120 minutes of play went by with no goal scored on either
\nside. Then came the penalty shootout, and with it, the miracle. Steaua’s
\ngoalkeeper Helmut Duckadam saved all four penalty kicks. Few people remember,
\nhowever, that the Spanish goalkeeper, the late Javier Urruticoechea, himself
\nsaved two penalty kicks, which, alone, was a remarkable feat for a Champions’
\nCup final. Scoring for Romania were Marius L\u0103c\u0103tu\u015f and Gavril\u0103 Balint, and the
\nfinal penalty kick saved by Duckadam committed the match to legend. <\/p>\n
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\n
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Many of the
\nfirst-team players who contributed to Steaua’s victory in ’86 are no longer
\nwith us today. Our thoughts dwell particularly on Ion Alexandru, at the time
\nthe head of the Football Division of STEAUA Army Club, but also players Lucian
\nB\u0103lan and Ilie B\u0103rbulescu. Most of the players who made up Steaua’s dream team
\nin 1986 are today professional coaches. Some have even compelled international
\nrecognition, such as Victor Pi\u0163urc\u0103, who helped Romania qualify to two European
\nChampionships. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by
\nV. Palcu) <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On May 7, 1986 Steaua Bucharest won the European Champions’ Cup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":110450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[41186,41187,30425,1986],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-120749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-european-champions-cup","tag-seville","tag-steaua-bucharest","tag-vaccinul-astrazeneca-campanie-de-vaccinare-cncav-covid-19-rovaccinare"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n