He repeated Nouma's gesture from 2002 » Mircea Lucescu, surprised face to face with dozens of Turkish and Romanian journalists

• Turkey – Romania will be played on March 26, from 19:00, match broadcast by Prima TV. If we win, we play the World Cup qualification final against Slovakia/Kosovo on March 31, 2026.

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Turkey has special respect for Mircea Lucescu, the man who wrote a page of history in the country of the Crescent. The locals did not forget him, and a journalist definitely wanted to show his appreciation for the Romanian coach at the very moment he entered the conference room, to preface the roadblock on the way to the World Cup.

PHOTO. A Turkish journalist kissed Mircea Lucescu's hand before the conference

Although an opponent now, Lucescu was greeted by the Turks with much warmth and affection. And Ismail Er, a journalist of the Hürriyet publication, was the one who felt he had to make a gesture that few of those present might have expected. Before the conference, he went to the Romanian coach and kissed his hand, showing his appreciation for what he did in Turkish football.

The gesture made by the journalist is a known one in Turkey, a country where it represents a form of respect towards the person in question.

Later, the two took a photo together, and the journalist marked the moment with a post on social networks.

“I met Mircea Lucescu, the one who coached in Turkey. We witnessed how Turkish coaches run after money, while Lucescu never engaged in dishonorable negotiations for bonuses or compensation, never showed arrogance or pride.

I hugged him with love and wished him success, I added: «Since the World Championship in 2002, we only watch the tournament on TV. May love and respect always bring victory to Turkey”, and Lucescu smiled while we were talking. As they say, football is about friendship and peace. Regardless of the score, life goes on…”, Ismail Er wrote on Instagram.

• Throughout his career, Mircea Lucescu coached Galatasaray and Beşiktaş, with whom he won a title each, and in the 2017-2019 period he was also the Turkish national team coach.

The moment with Pascal Nouma was repeated

Ismail Er is not the first to kiss Mircea Lucescu's hand. Pascal Nouma also did it before himin 2002, the former student who now speaks of Lucescu as “his father”.

His gesture became viral and was done after he scored a goal in the European cups against Dynamo Kyiv. It was subsequently commented on for days in the Turkish media and throughout the international press.

I kissed his hand to say: “You are everything to me!”. He brought me even when I was sick. The world had started talking about me that I was going to die, that I was no good. But he always believed in me.

He was checking on me, talking to me. We lived close to each other, about 100 meters apart. And at night he would call me and we would go downstairs to have a coffee. Just a coffee. A dark place, nobody there.

I don't know how many hours we sat every night talking, but not about football. We were talking about life, about my family, about children. My father was never like that. There was a connection between us

– Pascal Nouma, in an interview for GSP.ro, about the gesture made in 2002

Pascal Nouma kissing Lucescu's hand, an image that went around the globe