“I cried out loud! If I knew it was the last time, I wouldn't have hung up the phone”

The former Romanian international conveyed that Lucescu's loss is not only one for Romanian football, but also a personal one, describing him as a close friend, with whom he shared important moments in life.

Ion Dumitru, heartbreaking reaction after the disappearance of Mircea Lucescu: “If I knew it was the last time, I wouldn't have hung up the phone”

Former player at Steaua and Rapid, “Liță” Dumitru posted this morning on Facebook a moving message, in which he expressed his deep pain and regret for the loss of the one he considered more than a colleague of his generation.

One day after you, Mircea…
Even now I can't believe it! It's like I refuse to accept that you're gone… that I can't get my hands on the phone to call you, let's talk about football, about life, about “how are we doing”. To hear your voice: “Lita, how are you?” It's only been a day… I couldn't gather myself. I sobbed, unashamedly. Because we didn't just lose a huge football name. I lost a dear man. I lost a friend.
To the world, you were Mircea Lucescu — one of the greatest coaches, a symbol, a man who took Romanian football all over the world. For me… you were Mircea. The man with whom I shared generations, memories, thoughts, contradictions and moments that cannot be seen in statistics, but that remain forever. I talked to you a week ago…who would have thought that would be the last time? We talked about matches, about the tie, about things that were natural for us. God, if I knew it was the last time, I wouldn't have hung up the phone. I was saying something else. Any. Or maybe I wasn't saying anything… I was just listening.

But now… there was only silence. I remember our moments, the discussions, the way you saw football… always one step ahead. You were ambitious, stubborn in a good way, always wanting more. There is no such thing as “enough” for you. You didn't know how to live otherwise than intensely. Football was not a job for you. It was your life. Your breath. And maybe that's what… consumed you. You were my rival, you were my colleague, but above all you were my friend.

In a world where few stay close, you stay.
It is a rupture that I feel deeply. As if a part of me, of our generation, of everything I was… has gone with you.
Safe journey, dear friend!
May God forgive you and rest in peace!
And I… I stay with the memories. And with the longing that will never pass!

– “Liță” Dumitru's post

Mircea Lucescu, a symbol of Romanian football

• Mircea Lucescu took his first steps in football at Dinamo Bucharest, the team with which he has spent most of his career. He also performed at Știința Bucharest and Corvinul Hunedoara.

• As a player, he won 7 championship titles and a Romanian Cup, all with Dinamo.

• Throughout his coaching career, he trained Corvinul, the Romanian national team, Dinamo, Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana, Rapid, Inter, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş, Shakhtior, Zenit, the Turkish national team and Dinamo Kiev.

• He won 36 trophies in his career as a technician: 9 times the championship of Ukraine, 8 times the Ukrainian Cup, 7 times the Ukrainian Supercup, 3 times the Romanian Cup, 2 times the Romanian championship, 2 times the Turkish championship, as well as the UEFA Cup, the European Super Cup, the Russian Super Cup and the Anglo-Italian Cup.