Mircea Lucescu and The Tale of The “Brescia Romena”

In the age of globalization and post-Bosman ruling, it is quite normal to see domestic football teams line up few to none inland players. Back in the early ’90s, however, this trend was just starting to appear with clubs looking beyond their borders in order to find the talent needed to bolster their squad. Italy made no exception.

Imagine a Serie A team that in the 1992-1993 season had four foreign players all coming from the same country. That team was Brescia, whose Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu had proceeded on to whip up a small Romanian colony by bringing in some of his favorite players to the Lombardy club.

Lucescu is now undeniably one of the world’s most successful managers with 32 major trophies under his belt, second only to the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.

Back in the days, the Romanian manager was already highly rated in his homeland, after having built one of the best squads in the country’s history at Dinamo Bucuresti. That team didn’t get full recognition only because they happened to be overshadowed by contemporary European powerhouse Steaua Bucuresti.

Steaua had managed to win the European Champions Cup over Barcelona in 1986 and then reached another final in the 1989 season when they couldn’t match-up to Arrigo Sacchi’s fantastic  Milan, losing 4-0.

Those were good times for Romanian football and Lucescu is responsible for having discovered many of the players who then went on to play at the 1994 World Cup, where Romania was one of the tournaments’ revelations. They narrowly missed out on a chance of a dream Semi-Final where they would have faced Brazil, only losing on penalties against Sweden.

When it comes to Romanian players and coaches moving abroad, Mircea Lucescu was a pioneer. The manager made a name for himself in the Serie A, leading Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana, and even Inter
When it comes to Romanian players and coaches moving abroad, Mircea Lucescu was a pioneer. The manager made a name for himself in the Serie A, leading Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana, and even Inter

The fall of the Communist regime saw most of the best Romanian footballers leave the country for a taste of “freedom” and a chance to make some real money. The same went for the coaches and Lucescu was one of the first to do so, his first foreign experience being at Pisa. After one season with the Nerazzurri of Tuscany, who spent a few seasons in the Serie A between the late ’80s and the early ’90s, Brescia’s president Gino Corioni convinced Lucescu to join his side and help them fight for promotion to the top-flight.

Lucescu’s time at the Mario Rigamonti Stadium was one of ups and downs. He won the Serie B in his first year and then with the promise of first-tier football in his pocket, went on to convince some of his former stars to join a fairly modest Brescia team.

So the likes of Gheorghe Hagi, Florin Raducioiu, Dorin Mateut, and Ioan-Ovidiu Sabau all decided to give their former mentor a helping hand. Three midfielders and one striker, all of them meeting Lucescu in different moments of their career but now all reunited in one common cause, making Brescia become a force to be reckoned with.

Out of all, the one that stands out is Gheorghe Hagi, considered by many the best Romanian player ever to grace the pitch. The “Maradona of the Carpathians” joined the side after two seasons with Real Madrid (!). Not often does a player make such a shift in his career, but rumors have it that Lucescu promised Hagi they would both move to Inter in one year’s time. Lucescu did actually go on to coach Inter at some point in his career, but that is another story…

Gheorghe Hagi decided to leave Real Madrid to follow Mircea Lucescu at...Brescia! Can you imagine that? Everything was possible in the Serie A back in its golden '90s years...
Gheorghe Hagi decided to leave Real Madrid to join Mircea Lucescu at…Brescia! Can you imagine that? Everything was possible in the Serie A back in its golden ’90s years…

In an interview he gave later on, Lucescu curiously admitted that Hagi wasn’t his top pick, his biggest regret being that he couldn’t sign Marius Lacatus after his solitary season for Fiorentina. Lacatus then chose to change the scenery and strut his stuff at Real Oviedo for two years. However, he couldn’t stay away from his beloved Steaua Bucuresti back home where he now is the club’s biggest legend. Lucescu admitted he had had a fascination for him ever since the times they were facing each other in the “Eternal Derby” Steaua-Dinamo.

The group was ready to take on Italy’s powerhouses and make a name for themselves in one of the world’s most important leagues. But, as mentioned before, Lucescu’s helm at Brescia was one of ups and downs and his second year in charge, the first of the Brescia Romena was no different. Despite going unbeaten against Juventus (0-0, 2-0) and Napoli (0-0, 2-1) and scoring such big wins as a 2-0 one against Lazio at home and a 3-2 one against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, Brescia also managed to lose 5-1 to second-to-last Ancona and finished the season fourth-to-bottom – thus being relegated after losing a playout to Udinese.

Even though one may think that Lucescu’s idea of forcing in such a large number of foreign players might have been the reason, stats tell a different story. Out of the 36 goals tallied by his side in the season, 22 were scored by Romanian Raducioiu (13, top-scorer), Hagi (5), and Sabau (4).

With the relegation, Lucescu’s plans to take over Italy alongside his fellow Romanians were quickly shattered.

Florin Raducioiu's good performances with Mircea Lucescu's Brescia Romena earned him a ticket to Milan. The blonde-haired striker would, however, last only one season with the Rossoneri
Florin Raducioiu’s good performances with Mircea Lucescu’s Brescia Romena earned him a ticket to Milan. The blonde-haired striker would, however, last only one season with the Rossoneri

Florin Raducioiu was the first to leave, his impressive season earning him a dream-move to Scudetto holders Milan, where he was given Marco Van Basten’s illustrious number 9 shirt. The job seemed a little too big for the curly-haired pretty boy and, after one disappointing season, he left on loan to Espanyol Barcelona, then continued his career on a descendent path until his retirement in 2004.

The rest of the pack chose to stay to help win back promotion and so they did, with Hagi being one of the main performers in the 1993-1994 season. The summer of 1994 saw Hagi marvel the entire World Cup attendance at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as he scored the tournament’s best goal defending the Colombian goalkeeper from the middle of the park. His performance at the 1994 World Cup made Barcelona knock on Brescia’s door and swoop in for the Romanian playmaker.

Dorin Mateut also left after this season, moving on to Reggiana for one year and then returning home to Dinamo Bucuresti, where he would later retire.

The only one of the lot who stayed loyal to Lucescu was Ioan-Ovidiu Sabau, who stuck with his mentor until the end of his stint at Brescia, then followed him at Reggiana and Rapid Bucuresti.

Lucescu continued his career in Italy for a couple of years before finding true glory managing in Turkey and Ukraine. But, even though performance-wise his Brescia Romena doesn’t count as one of the greatest teams seen in the Serie A, his creature is still remembered by calcio fans from the ’90s for its boldness and the romantic era of football it represented.

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