Ștefan Constantinescu was the pilot who transported the Star back and forth for the final of the European Champions Cup in Seville, 1986. He tells Gazeta's audience new episodes surrounding the legendary performance of the red-blues
The success of Stela in May 1986, the Champions Cup won in Seville in front of Barcelona, meant not only the effort of the team on the field, the sleepless nights of the technical staff or the millions of Romanians who rejoiced for the triumph of the red-blues.
There were also shadow people around the lot, who were left with special memories of the legendary moment that happened 40 years ago.
Ștefan Constantinescu was the pilot of the plane that transported the star players to Seville and back. Today retired, he recalls with emotion the days spent with the “speeders”.
Pilot Ștefan Constantinescu's message upon takeoff to Seville: “Now we are taking the first step towards victory”
“I had a premonition at takeoff, when I greeted the boys and told them that now together we are taking the first step towards victory, the flight to Seville”, recalls Constantinescu in the dialogue with GSP.
He admits that he was a Steaua fan, especially Belodedici, Lăcătuș, Pițurcă and Balint. And he recreates the atmosphere on the plane during the trip to Spain: “I made a stopover for refueling in Timișoara, because the distance to the destination was about 2,800 kilometers, and the plane did not have such autonomy. It was quiet during the entire flight, and then only the players, the staff and Valentin Ceaușescu went. It was the day before the final and everyone was focused on the stakes of the game.”
Ștefan Constantinescu on the handle of a plane: he is the man who took the star players to Seville for the final of the 1986 European Champions Cup. Photo: personal archive Ștefan Constantinescu
Rîca Răducanu went to Seville on one of the planes dedicated to supporters. And he was in a great hurry to get there quickly to get a seat in the last row, because, he said, that's where you have a chance of escaping with your life in case of an accident. This is a joke, a legend
Ștefan Constantinescu, Steaua airplane pilot 1986
“I made a gallery in the tribune”
How was the match in the “Sanchez Pizjuan” stands? “I made a gallery, and the leader of the choir was my colleague Geta Popescu, the head of the flight attendants from that trip. She was a big Steaua supporter, she had also gone to other places with the team. I thought it would be a disaster after the misses of Majearu and Boloni, but the fact that Duckadam was also defending the shots of the Barcelona team increased my hope that all is not really lost,” says Constantinescu.
Lăcătuș and Balint were the only ones to score in the penalty shootout in the CCE final in Seville, 1986
He also recalls that a few dozen Romanians remained in Spain at the time, who refused to return under Ceaușescu's dictatorship: “They asked for political asylum. Before we returned to Bucharest, General Puiu, the head of civil aviation, called me and ordered me to send my fellow co-pilot, Vasilescu, through the city, let him be an easy peasant!, maybe he meets one of the strays, to convince them to return home. Naturally, he walked in vain, because everyone was already on their way.”
“All the traffic controllers were asking me if Duckadam was on board”
“I stayed one more day in Seville after the final, and when leaving for the airport I asked Iordănescu to take us, the team, and the crew on the bus. We had stayed at neighboring hotels, and there was a terrible crowd in the city. Of course, the fiesta had started, they were now also allowed with their wives or girlfriends”, Constantinescu recalls the last hours spent in the Iberian Peninsula.
He then recounts an emotional episode during the flight to Romania: “All the traffic control centers on the route gave us approval for a direct route to Bucharest, no inflections. And they were all asking me if Duckadam was on board and sending me messages for him.”
Duckadam and the European Champions Cup
He adds: “I also called him into the cabin, put the calls on speakerphone and let him listen to what was coming from the controllers, who wanted to greet and congratulate him. People also gave me addresses so that I could tell the people at Steaua to send them promotional materials, such as badges, pens, various souvenirs.”
When we landed in Bucharest, the only person who came to the crew window was General Puiu, the head of civil aviation. He told us: “Well done, you won!”. He gave us a rose, which was somehow our Cup
Ștefan Constantinescu, Steaua airplane pilot 1986
“The flight closest to my soul”
Iovan, Duckadam and Tudorel Stoica present the Champions Cup on the stairs of the plane, after arriving at “Otopeni” airport
Ștefan Constantinescu also reconstructs the emotions from the return to the Capital, where the team was awaited at the airport by thousands of people: “I was emotional when we started the landing maneuvers. I could see a sea of torches below, and that heat from the crowd of supporters was also felt on the plane in the sense that the atmosphere had become unstable due to the warm air currents rising from the ground.”
“It was the flight closest to my soul in my entire career,” confesses the former TAROM pilot.
He also has other trips with football teams: “I took Craiova University to Cyprus when it played with Apollon Limassol in 1991. And with FC Argeș I went to Athens in 1978 for the match with Panathinaikos. I saw Dobrin then very scared on the way up and he didn't seem to dare to get on the plane. After that I found out that he was very afraid of flying.”
“Duckadam's death affected me”
Ștefan Constantinescu remained emotionally attached to the entire Stela team that won the European Champions Cup in Seville 1986. Photo: Andrei Furnigă (GSP)
Constantinescu concludes with a thought for those who disappeared from the Steaua 1986 generation: Emeric Ienei, Ilie Bărbulescu, Lucian Bălan, Helmuth Duckadam.
“Duckadam's death affected me in particular. I had recently seen an interview given by him, in which he told how he had been fired by Steaua when he got sick and had problems with his shoulder. He said that no money was found for a salary of 3,000 lei for him, so he then returned to Arad, where he became a goalkeeper coach and was able to manage like that for a while,” says Constantinescu for GSP.
And he concludes: “It would be my great pleasure to personally meet all those boys who have brought great joy to the country. Then we could not interact at all, because they were enjoying themselves on the plane, I was taking care of bringing the plane home safely.”
