Mircea Lucescu's great opponent in Romanian football tells a painful truth about the national team
“In a discussion with him in December, he said that he was disappointed by the quality of this generation. You can't make a great performance with it. This is the truth about the national team,” Cornel Dinu told Golazo.ro, after the death of Mircea Lucescu.
Mircea Lucescu died on Tuesday evening at the University Emergency Hospital in Bucharest, where he had been hospitalized since March 29.
One of the people with whom, although he did not always get along, but was always respected, Cornel Dinu, reacted, visibly affected, to learning the news about the death of his friend and great rival in domestic football, “Il Luce”.
“That's right, I have many beautiful memories with Mircea. There were also things that brought us closer. We won championships with him, we played memorable matches. Mircea had the opportunity to retire. But his goal was this qualification for the World Championship,” said Dinamo's legendary coach, for Golazo.
Asked if the former coach of the Romanian national team believed in the current generation, Cornel Dinu gave a surprising and painful answer at the same time.
“Not really. In a discussion I had with him in December, he said he was disappointed with the quality of this generation. You can't do great with it. That's the truth about the national team. But, unfortunately, he went all the way believing he could do a miracle,” the “dogs” legend also declared.
The last match led by Lucescu was that of the Romanian national team against Turkey, on March 26, in the play-off for the 2026 World Cup, lost by the “tricolors” 0-1.
“His results, even if they were obtained with a lot of money, will remain in the history of our football. And of the world. No one can take that away from Mircea. God rest him!” added Cornel Dinu.
Lucescu and Dinu were 4 champions together at Dinamo, in 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1977.
The 1999-2000 season in Division A was marked by an intense rivalry between Dinamo Bucharest, then coached by Cornel Dinu (“Mister”), and Rapid Bucharest, trained by Mircea Lucescu (“Il Luce”), the duel being practically between two Dynamo legends.
The rivalry between the two great players and footballers was a historic one, with the two having different visions, especially regarding the style of play. In October 1998, Dinu waved a white towel towards the Rapid bench, led by Lucescu, simulating “throwing the towel”, in a Rapid-Dinamo match, won by the “dogs” 4-1.
