Closed Steaua Bucharest v Chelsea

[Santiago. 1,500]

Sorry guys but you're gonna lose

1-0 and 1-1

Anyway FORZA STEAUA and I can't say good luck cuz you don't need in this game!

We're fairly aware of that...

We are also fairly aware of the Napoli fans that came here last year and thought they would win, as well as the Benfica fans, and as well as the Bayern fans. Havne't seen them since.

[Laylabelle 9,398]

We had a anager with a clue back then and a team who knew how to play..different situation this time

[Rupert 130]

How important is it for Chelsea to win in this game ?

I believe Rafa should rest key players here, play for a draw, if possible.

Come back to the Bridge & play the best against Manure. Don´t forget, Chelsea are playing on Thursday & Sunday.

Then on next week´s Thursday against Bucharest. If Chelsea can manage a draw or even a loss by one goal, then the team may knock them out.

Beaten Manure, Bucharest knocked out, happy days are here again...

The last time Rafa managed a team against Man Utd was 2009 when his LFC defeated Utd at Old Trafford by 4-1. After the match Rafa said publicly other teams in the league should adopt his tactics against Utd. But they didn't. Other teams tend to be scared of Utd at OT. Rafa wasn't. He believed the best approach was fast-paced, high pressure straight at the heart of the Utd defence. I think he could do it with Chelsea.

[bushman 2,043]

The last time Rafa managed a team against Man Utd was 2009 when his LFC defeated Utd at Old Trafford by 4-1. After the match Rafa said publicly other teams in the league should adopt his tactics against Utd. But they didn't. Other teams tend to be scared of Utd at OT. Rafa wasn't. He believed the best approach was fast-paced, high pressure straight at the heart of the Utd defence. I think he could do it with Chelsea.

Well, thanks for your opinion.

However, if I were you, I would be more subtle about it.

Rafa is not well liked around these threads.

[spidahcult 11]

Coming from a Steaua fan (and also a Chelsea fan when I watch CL), I think Chelsea is favoured even in the first leg. If Chelsea display good form, I don`t think we can do much, although I think Steaua is in a great form too. Aspects that should worry Chelsea are the following:

1) Steaua is in a great form, has a play style focused on aggresion and keeping the ball, and they can score against strong teams (so if Chelsea won`t score, they could be in trouble).

2) Steaua plays very well against strong teams in European competitions, the players find great motivation in playing agains the odds.

3) The atmosphere at the stadium will be insane. The crowd will surely bring morale to the team, especially after eliminating Ajax

If Chelsea bring mediocre play to Bucharest, they can loose for sure, and then anything could happen on Stamford Bridge. Now regarding Steaua, I belive 3-4-3 is unlikely to be used, as it is not suited for the current team-up (we got demolished by Stuttgart because of this). I think 4-2-3-1 is a sure bet. Rusescu is a good striker, and both him, Tanase and Latovlevici are good at long shots. The fact that the pitch will be bad will not favour Steaua like in the years before (like when we eliminated Valencia, them being the curent Europa League title holders at that time). Steaua have a fast paced playstyle that revolves around possession, and a bad pitch could very well work against that and in favour of Chelsea.

If Chelsea play well, they can score straightforward, but if not, I think the greatest vulnerabilites for Steaua are free kicks and corner kicks. The players seem to be lacking in positioning, and the the goalkeeper Tatarusanu is vulnerable at crossings (not bad, but he has had his share of mistakes). Anyway, I hope the game will be exciting, with lots of goals on both sides Best of luck

[Blue Armour 4,323]

The last time Rafa managed a team against Man Utd was 2009 when his LFC defeated Utd at Old Trafford by 4-1. After the match Rafa said publicly other teams in the league should adopt his tactics against Utd. But they didn't. Other teams tend to be scared of Utd at OT. Rafa wasn't. He believed the best approach was fast-paced, high pressure straight at the heart of the Utd defence. I think he could do it with Chelsea.

Not exactly the last time...The last time he face Man Utd, he got beat 2-1 at OT. Back in 2009 he had his best ever season with Liverpool, and Torres on fire.

[bloodyfcsb 4]

Steaua - Gaz Metan 3-0 (Steaua played in 10 from min 44. Was 1-0 then)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpp9eolPf_I&feature=player_embedded

Usualy we play 4-2-3-1, with Bourceanu and Pintilii in middle.

With Ajax (second game), Steaua played an 4-3-3 (having Bourceanu and Pintilii suspended).

Tatarusanu

Ripa - Gardos - Chiriches - Latovlevici

Tatu(Parvulescu) - Prepelita (Filip) - Tanase (Nicolic)

Popa - Rusescu - Chipciu

hello everybody,

first of all that steaua played 4-1-4-1 against ajax

Tatarusanu

Ripa - Gardos - Chiriches - Latovlevici

Bourceanu - Pintilii

Adi Popa - Chipciu - Tanase

Rusescu

that's how steaua will play against chelsea , most probably

despite the result i am sure it will be a great and entertaining game and for those of you who are coming to bucharest i hope you will have fun , bucharest is definitely a great place for fun , known for its nightlife

[Cosmin 2,484]

There's a whole craziness in Romania regarding this game. The press seems to have gone completely retarded. They claim that all of the Romanians will support Steaua, which is as true as "Arsenal won the UEFA Champions League". They even got to say that this will actually be Romania vs. Chelsea.

I am Romanian and I hate the shit out of these cunts. And most of the Romanian football fans won't support Steaua on Thursday. Dinamo's fans and Rapid's fans, specially, will all be blue, no matter if they normally support Liverpool, Manchester United or Barcelona. But the press is controlled by the same man who controls most of Steaua's fans and who bought them when they were trying to get the club rid of him. Steaua Bucharest represents everything that's wrong with the Romanian society.

Steaua's fans think that their team turned into Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Their arrogance is so disgusting.

If we treat this thing like a big team should treat a tie like this, we should destroy them.

Come on, Chelsea!

[Sheva. 5,373]

Rest Mata, Hazard and Oscar. Start Benayoun, Marin and Moses.

[S3ra 15]

Steaua Bucharest represents everything that's wrong with the Romanian society.

I thought corruption and a shitty attitude account for most of what's wrong with the Romanian society, but it turns out it was Steaua all along? )

In reality, in any poll you undertake, the majority of Romanian fans will claim they support Steaua (probably somewhere around 35-40%, with the rest being divided between Dinamo, Rapid etc). Of course a large part of this is because we won the CL in 1986 and reached another CL final in 1989 and ended up with a huge popularity boost. Of course these are achievements I am proud of but to go on and call millions of people arrogant is just dumb. For every Steaua fan that thinks his team is the best in the world there is a Dinamo fan who is happier when Steaua loses, not when Dinamo wins. Of course, this is also due to the fact that Dinamo don't win much of anything

I am kidding, but this does not change the fact that this IS an important high profile game for us and that we got here by eliminating Ajax when nobody gave us many chances to go though, so yes, I think a little exuberance is justified.

[bloodyfcsb 4]

There's a whole craziness in Romania regarding this game. The press seems to have gone completely retarded. They claim that all of the Romanians will support Steaua, which is as true as "Arsenal won the UEFA Champions League". They even got to say that this will actually be Romania vs. Chelsea.

I am Romanian and I hate the shit out of these cunts. And most of the Romanian football fans won't support Steaua on Thursday. Dinamo's fans and Rapid's fans, specially, will all be blue, no matter if they normally support Liverpool, Manchester United or Barcelona. But the press is controlled by the same man who controls most of Steaua's fans and who bought them when they were trying to get the club rid of him. Steaua Bucharest represents everything that's wrong with the Romanian society.

Steaua's fans think that their team turned into Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Their arrogance is so disgusting.

If we treat this thing like a big team should treat a tie like this, we should destroy them.

Come on, Chelsea!

wow another frustrated anti-steaua child.what would you like the press to write about? rapid's bankruptcy ? dinamo's defeats? steaua is the only romanian team doing something and please lets not take this on a chelsea forum stay on topic and discuss the game

[S3ra 15]

just a bit of (related) trivia
in 1999 we played a UEFA cup game against West Ham. We won 2-0 at home and drew 0-0 away. Among the West Ham starters for the match in Bucharest were Rio Ferdinand, the late Marc-Vivien Foe, Paolo di Canio and a certain Frank Lampard. Joe Cole was brought on as a substitute during the match and the manager was 'arry Redknapp

You can see some highlights from that game here. The stadium will not be the same and the pitch will not be as shitty (from what I have heard they are putting fresh rolls of grass to replace the poor parts of the pitch for Thursday)

[Cosmin 2,484]

wow another frustrated anti-steaua child.what would you like the press to write about? rapid's bankruptcy ? dinamo's defeats? steaua is the only romanian team doing something and please lets not take this on a chelsea forum stay on topic and discuss the game

Frustrated child? Dude, I'm probably older than you and I'm only frustrated by the fact that the Romanian media is acting like a fucking tool. I'm only frustrated by the fact that I, as a Romanian, am called a "Steaua fan" by these amateur cunts working for the newspapers and TV channels just because they think that you're not a true patriot if you don't support a club made and raised by the communists. I'm only frustrated by the fact that those silly twats from tv channels like Sport.ro, who claim to be professional journalists, call Chelsea fans "plastic fans".

Chelsea was the only English team to play in the Uefa Champions League final last season, but I don't remember The Guardian or even The Sun putting a "=" symbol between "Chelsea" and "England". I don't remember the English media making it about England or the English people.

And yes, Steaua represents almost everything that's wrong with the Romanian society. Steaua is led by a homophobic and racist shepperd who's been hated by the fans as long as the results were bad. The same shepperd is now praised and loved by the same fans just because the team's performances have been good so far this season. Steaua's fans are the same people who are selling their tickets for double or even triple online. Steaua's fans are the same people who sold their tickets after the away game against Ajax. Steaua's manager is a schizophrenic who said that he will never work for this club again as long as the owner is Becali, but in less than three years he changed his mind. Not to mention that the fans love him too now, after bashing him in the past. I'm not frustrated by this club nor by the people who support it. Steaua represents low morality, cowardness and "more money=less brain", which is exactly what's wrong with the Romanian society. I'm just happy and proud and I thank to God that I am not one of your people.

As I was saying before, as a Romanian, I'm frustrated by the fact that my country's name and that MY name is associated with this retarded campaign against football's real spirit. Everything that's happening now in the Romanian sports media is a total shame and extremely disrespectful towards one of the greatest clubs in the world, Chelsea FC.

Probably most of the people on this forum don't understand why I am so furious, but if you would only know about shit like this:

you would know what I'm talking about.

[S3ra 15]

'dude', just because retarded newspapers are calling it a game of 'Romania' vs 'Chelsea', that doesn't mean that people agree or that anyone with at least a decent IQ is expecting you to support Steaua in this game if they are not your favorite club.

Since you don't like generalized comments made by a newspaper that only idiots read anyway, it would probably be fair not to make similar assumptions yourself. Not all Steaua fans love the owner, not all fans sell their tickets online and certainly not all Steaua fans are characterized by low morality. These are general traits which you can find in fans of ALL teams in likely equal percentages, perhaps because of the fact that Steaua has the most fans there are also more retards among us. However, the picture you are trying to paint is far from reality.

how many of the Steaua fans that posted on this forum displayed the arrogance that you are speaking of?

p,s: the picture you posted is hilarious if you ask me. it's funny and I can definitely appreciate that kind of jab

p.s 2. I reckon we should stop monopolizing the thread debating whether Steaua is the devil or not.

[Cosmin 2,484]

I don't care about you or any other Steaua fan who posted on this forum. I was talking about the Romanian media and Steaua's fans attitude before this game in general.

And I was doing that as a Chelsea fan who's been on this forum for almost 3 years now. I didn't create my account two days ago, you know? So don't tell me what I can or can't do.

[NishC300 1,865]

The last time Rafa managed a team against Man Utd was 2009 when his LFC defeated Utd at Old Trafford by 4-1. After the match Rafa said publicly other teams in the league should adopt his tactics against Utd. But they didn't. Other teams tend to be scared of Utd at OT. Rafa wasn't. He believed the best approach was fast-paced, high pressure straight at the heart of the Utd defence. I think he could do it with Chelsea.

I agree. They simply rely on luck and the FA!

Southampion also played attack football and almost got a win! (they deserved to) Even we did under AVB and should have won (if it wasn't for the open goal misses!). So yes play attacking football with pace! (He hates Ferguson so I hope he's all fired up for this game and rallies the boys!) He was the guy who complained about David Gill being in the FA.

[Jase 43,479]

Here's some stats about Steaua Bucharest:

1. Steaua Bucharest are sitting top of the Romanian league on 53pts after 21 games, 12 ahead of the 2nd place team right now

2. Steaua Bucharest have won 15 of their 16 home matches in all competitions this season. The only defeat came in the Europa League group stage where they were thrashed 5-1 by Stuttgart [in league: P11 W11; in domestic cup comp: P1 W1; in EL: P4 W3 L1 (excluding qualifying matches)]

3. Steaua Bucharest's overall record in Europa League this season(excluding qualifying matches) - P8 W4 D2 L2.

Steaua Bucharest's Top 5 goalscorers in all competitions this season:

1. Raul Rusescu - 22

2. Adi Rocha - 7(excluding 3 goals in EL qualifying matches)

3. Cristian Tanase - 6

4. Alexandru Chipciu - 6

5. Stefan Nikolic - 5

Steaua Bucharest's Goalscorers in Europa League this season(exc. qualifying matches):

1. Raul Rusescu - 3

2. Iamin Latovlevici - 2

3. Vlad Chiriches - 2

4. Alexandru Chipciu - 2

5. Mihai Costea - 1

They have scored 10 goals so far in 8 matches and probably worth noting that both Latovlevici and Chiriches are defenders. Chipciu is a midfielder while the other are strikers.

Here's another one:

Steaua Bucharest's Home record in European competitions against English oppositions - P7 W4 D2 L1. Sole defeat came against Arsenal in the CL group stage 6 years ago. Van Persie scored the only goal then in a 1-0 win.

Their overall record against English teams - P14 W4 D4 L6 (Away in Europe - P7 D2 L5).

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

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