How hard was Mircea Lucescu in the locker room? »Ciprian Marica remembers:” He put me “under the table”! “

In an interview for the Sports Gazette, Marica talks about Lucescu as a force of nature: one who does not ask you if you are ready, but forces you to be. He remembers how he was “under the table” in front of his colleagues, then brought back to the foreground by a simple word.

He recognizes his hardness, accepts his silence, but especially understands his pedagogy today. The former peak feels “Il Luce” as a voice that not only requires, but also reforms, transforms the potential into identity. “If he fails to the national team, no one will succeed,” Ciprian Marica is sure.

– Ciprian, how did you meet Mircea Lucescu? Do you remember the first meeting with him?
“Yes, I was at Shahtior And I heard that Mr. Lucescu would come. I was very excited and full of enthusiasm to meet the greatest Romanian coach of all time. I was waiting for him with great opening. I knew he liked young players, I knew I had so many things to learn from him. I was very glad that a Romanian coach will come to the team.

– Did something impressed you then, at the time? Something outside of football?
– I like it today what I liked then. The personality with which he approached, the seriousness with which each training treated. I had a great thing to learn. His attitude is special.

Ciprian Marica (Șahtior Donetk, Center), in duel with Youssouf Hadji (Nancy, right). UEFA Cup 2006/2007, As Nancy Lorraine – Shahtior Donetsk 0-1. Photo: Imago

– Are you the “child” of Mircea Lucescu, do you consider yourself?
– Yes. So many years in the chessoior together … at an early age. Yes, it was like a father to me.

– Do you think people like God are born with a certain aura or build it over time?
– I think Mr. Lucescu was born with an aura. He sanded her over time, but this aura was born.

“Was there a moment between you and him in which he made you feel small?” Did he have this habit?
– Many times. And it has a style that surprises today. We see that if he has something to say, he says it with first name and name. This is what happened then. That's the way it was. Focus or formed in this way, that if he wanted to put you under the table, he puts you under the table! Equally, it was only necessary for a crumb to restore your confidence and immediately restore you to the foreground, with a high level of confidence.

– And what did you feel the first time you were doing?
– The first time you were angry, nervous and disturbed. But today I understand it much better. He does this only if he likes you, if he trusts you. If he does not like you and does not trust, then marginalize or not pay attention to you. So, no matter how critical it is or how beautiful it speaks, it means that it means something for it and trusts you.

“Because we're talking about these moments, has you ever threatened to give up?”
“Never threaten me, no.” On the contrary, he told me that it would be best to stay with him.

– What did Mircea Lucescu know about football and couldn't understand then?
– Very many things. First of all, tactical and human. I was a terrible kid who wanted to do them all, and he was there to calm me down, to explain to me that important things are and happens on the field. I have to be the best there, not outside the field.

– When did you realize that you do not work with a simple coach, but with a character who writes history?
– From the beginning. Through his attitude and when I saw that he manages to be loved by the employer, everything that the club means and to control everything in the smallest detail, I realized that he is not a simple coach.

-Have you ever seen him at a very hard time of him?
– Honestly, no! I did not see Lucescu's weakness. He has always been a very master coach. That also sent the team.

– Is it a master of concealment, can this be said?
– That's only he can know. Probably, like any man, he also had more difficult situations, but he did not let himself be seen. I am convinced of this.

– Do you have a story, an incident with Mircea Lucescu who marked you?
– I have many events with Mr. Lucescu. The moments when we won trophies, we enjoyed together, danced and collided. There were very beautiful moments. Equally, there were times when he put me “under the table”. That is, when I took a red card and left my team in the final of the Cup with Dinamo Kiev. I repeat, a very serious guy. When he was joke, he was joke and fun. But when it was seriousness, training, football – you could see how much it could be involved.

– How hard is it with collaborators?
– Peak, Mr. Lucescu closes his eyes when he has a coach or player in whom he trusts and from which he knows he will have benefits. He accepts his mistakes and closes his eyes. That's the way it was with the Seconds. He knew they were good, they were doing their job. They could be wrong, but he accepts them.

– What hurts him most, a defeat or a human disappointment?
– How many defeats he had, it happens to lose, it is human, but human disappointment I think is more painful for him.

– Is there anything that annoys him very hard outside the ground?
– Mr. Lucescu likes to be listened to and, when he says one thing, he does not have to repeat him. It would certainly upset him if he had to tell you the same thing 10 times.

– Does he really have an obsession?
– Yes, he has an obsession with football! In the morning, lunch and evening! When he wakes up, he talks about football, he lives only for football. Around football is the life of Mr. Lucescu.

“You didn't talk anything else?” Did your discussions extend in other fields?
– Too little. Too little. Neither 5% were talking about other things. The vast majority of discussions were only about football.

– Beyond football, what should the young people from Romania from Mr. Lucescu learn?
– There are many things we could learn. First of all, the preparation of the match – from the opponent's analysis to the analysis of their own players. He is an extremely well -calculated man. Calculate everything in the smallest detail. He knows how to approach you, he knows when and how to press the acceleration. It has all the know-how, so to speak, to make you better than you think you are, many times.

– To what level is it involved in training? Show you a process, exemplify him?
-To know that it doesn't have much to explain a process or show it to you. Of course, it works at the highest level anyway, and you, theoretically, are already living with a knowledge bag.

– To understand that, at a high level, you should no longer teach you …
– Exactly. At this level it is no longer about teaching you technical things.

– Is there, in your opinion, an underestimated aspect of his career?
“I don't know.” I don't have something in mind now.

– When will the history of Romanian football be written, if it is ever written, in one form or another, what phrase should be the first on the page with Mircea Lucescu?
– “Mircea Lucescu is a special man”. And he is a special man because he was dedicated to football all his life. In everything he did, he was guided by very healthy principles, and the fact that he managed to convey so much and inspire so many generations makes him unique. We see that we are in the stands and we look at games. About all, the vast majority, I went through his hand. And there are people like Andone, 60, and current players aged 18-20. To succeed in inspiring such a wide beach, you have to be unique and have something special, and it is an engine that simply does not leave you in the back. Remove the best of you and brings you to the highest level.

– Will he succeed in the national team?
– It proves once again that what he did many years ago is valid today. We see that many of the current coaches have a mentor. I talk to Mr. Lucescu, he is inspired by his ideas and they advise him. Equally, we see that the national team returns to its origins. We return to the game that has consecrated us, the game on the counterattack. Sure, it's not easy to build a team. He would also need time. We are very impatient with the results, we want to go to a World Cup. That's because I haven't done it for a long time. And we put all this pressure on the coach's shoulders. I am convinced of one thing: that if Mircea Lucescu failed, no one will succeed in the near future. The knowledge of him gives me hopes that we have a chance. Otherwise, I would have said we didn't have any.