“Grandfather welcomed Mircea to heaven. They will make a great team together”

Mircea Lucescu's adventure in Italy began in 1990, in Pisa (August 1990 – March 1991), where president Romeo Anconetani, a one-man-show, courted the Romanian coach for years.

He was impressed by Romania's victory against Italy, the world champion, in 1983, the memorable 1-0 in the campaign for Euro '84 obtained by the selector Lucescu. And from that moment he began to approach the technician who impressed behind the “Iron Curtain” until he found the right moment to bring him to Serie A.

And then he gave him a team with famous names, such as Simeone, Henrik Larsen, Padovano, Piovanelli, Chamot.

Matteo Anconetani, the grandson of the former legendary president of Pisa, who died in 1999, today sends his condolences to the Lucescu family and remembers the relationship with the Tehncian that remained in the history of the Tuscans.

Matteo Anconetani: “He visited me in Pisa last May. We last spoke a month ago”

“It's a very sad moment for us as well, because we were close. I was in contact with Mircea. In May of last year he came to Pisa, we had lunch, we spent a day together. We talked often on the phone lately.

I was very saddened by his passing. I also saw moving images from Romania. I'm sorry that I can't be there, but I send from Pisa all the good thoughts to Neli, to Răzvan, to the whole family”, Anconetani jr. pointed out for GSP.

And he continued: “I last spoke with Mircea about a month ago. We were always discussing Italian football and the Romanian players who played here. He wanted to find out any information about them, we talked a lot about Marius Marin, who had been in Pisa for many years. Every conversation with Mircea was a pleasure”.

“Certainly, grandfather was now among the first to welcome Mircea to heaven, where they will once again make a great team together,” concluded Matteo Anconetani.

Mircea Lucescu and Matteo Anconetani on the occasion of a visit made by the former coach of Romania to Pisa

Mircea was an innovator, who brought a lot of news to Italian football. At the time, he had Adriano Bacconi as his collaborator, who was recording the matches, and at halftime he was already delivering technical information from the footage to Lucescu. Since then, Mircea has sensed the power of these analyses, developed over time at a global level, up to today's scope
– Matteo Anconetani, nephew of Romeo Anconetani

“He had stacks of player files in his room”

About a year and a half ago, Gazeta visited Matteo Anconetani right in Pisa for a report made following Lucescu's footsteps on the banks of the Arno river.

On that occasion, Anconetani jr. he told the story that “grandfather was in Romania several times during the year of the Revolution. He took risks, because there were difficult times. He went to Bucharest to meet Mircea, to watch his training and to get to know better who this innovative technician is.

He convinced him to come to Italy, perhaps helped by the difficult time Romania was going through in 1990. It was the year of Pisa's return to Serie A, that is, an important event for the city. We had very good players, and Mircea was already a good connoisseur of Italian football”.

Memorable pose from 1990: Mircea Lucescu gives directions in Pisa to the young Diego Simeone, newly imported from Argentina

He completes with a special episode: “I was small, I was only eight years old. But I followed my grandfather, I stayed with the players, I accompanied them on trips. I was part of the group since the first months with Lucescu. I visited him at one point in the hotel room where he was staying and saw stacks of files on every player there. He wrote down everything, underlined, colored. Something absolutely fascinating”.

Memorable dialogue after Inter – Pisa 6-3: “But I scored three goals for Inter, president!”

It also recounts two moments of Lucescu's tumultuous relationship with Anconetani, who led Pisa in the best period of its history.

First, the “clashes” after an Inter – Pisa 6-3, with a great team of Milanese – Matthaus, Brehme, Klinsmann, Bergomi, plus Trapattoni on the bench: “I always remember a dialogue. Grandfather tells him: “Mircea, we lost 6-3! Pisa shouldn't concede six goals”.

And Lucescu answers: “But I scored three goals against Inter, president!”. And the grandfather replied: “OK, but it's not good at all to score three times, but to score six goals!”. Of course, there was a small break then”.

Romeo Anconetani led the Tuscan club during the best period in its history

And another, more sympathetic frame: “There is still an interview on the Internet in which a reporter asks my grandfather if there are any problems with Lucescu, as if after a match with Atalanta. And Anconetani answers: “No, we feel good all day like two pigeons!”. It was a nice way of saying that there are no problems of any kind, Lucescu will continue in Pisa.”

He now concludes with a final message from Italy: “Mircea is part of our family and will remain in our hearts forever.”

Matteo Anconetani at 8 years old, during a dinner, flanked by Mircea and Neli Lucescu (on the left), and in front of them the legendary Romeo Anconetani (with glasses), the president of Pisa. Photo: personal archive Matteo Anconetani

Three ideas from Mircea Lucescu about the Pisa experience

• “I met Anconetani after Romania – Italy in 1983. We always kept in touch. I remember that he also came to the Cup final in 1990, Dinamo – Steaua 6-4. I then went to a table in Berceni and he also offered a bonus to the players for that success. Through his behavior, he somehow forced me not to refuse Pisa's offer”

• “We started well in Pisa, wins with Bologna and Lecce, draw with Genoa. The first short circuit happened in Naples, where we got beat in the 94-95 minute. Maradona corner, Careca goal. Anconetani then caused a huge scandal, because the match was prolonged a lot. After that episode, it was decided that the referee would announce how many minutes the game would be extended in order to avoid certain tensions at the end”

• “Piovanelli was the team's top scorer, they sold him to Juventus, but they didn't want to take him anymore, because he broke his leg after the papers had already been signed. There was a big fuss then. He gave Padovano to Napoli, Neri to Lazio. That was the only way Pisa could live. But this series of transfers of the most important players cost a lot”

28 games gathered Mircea Lucescu on the Pisa bench, 24 in Serie A and 4 in the Italian Cup): 10 wins, 5 draws, 13 failures