Football world mourns legendary coach
The news of the passing of Mircea Lucescu has plunged the entire football world into mourning.
According to reports from the Romanian newspaper Golazo, the legendary coach died at the age of 80 at the University Hospital of Bucharest, following a battle with severe cardiac complications that began during a technical meeting with the Romanian national team, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.
Lucescu passed away fulfilling a wish he had expressed years ago: “To die on the field is the most beautiful thing that can happen to a coach.”
“I would like to die on the field, because it means you have lived everything in the midst of the battle,” Lucescu had said.
With a career spanning six decades, “Il Luce” remains the second most successful coach in the history of Romanian football and the only one in the world to have won trophies with seven different teams, surpassing names like José Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti.
From Romania’s historic qualification for UEFA Euro 1984 to winning the UEFA Cup with Shakhtar Donetsk, his legacy of 35 trophies is a rare record.
He will also be remembered as the man who gave a debut to the legendary Gheorghe Hagi, remaining forever a national symbol and a great “teacher” of the beautiful game.
