S3ra

as stated previously, since the last time we met (and i posted on this forum) we have lost 2 of our best players to Tottenham and Sevilla respectively and the replacements we have brought in are not at the same level according to what they've shown so far (Chiriches alone was sold for around 9,5 million euros and we briought in 3 players that together cost us around 1,5 million. Schalke by comparison bought Kevin Prince Boateng and Dennis Aogo this summer and they were both massive against us). The lack of competition in the Romanian league is also not helping, as genuinely tough and challenging matches are few and far between. when that other romanian guy on here said that this would be a dissapointing season for us, what he meant was that, compared to last season, when we won the league after 7 barren years and were knocked out by Chelsea in the Europa, this year we were really thought we might have a shot at second spot in this group. We are still most likely going to win the national league, but in the CL the prospect of 0 points after 2 games is as dark for us as it is for you. Realistically we would love third spot in this group to continue on in the EUropa League as we do need to get a bit stronger before challenging realistically to go past the group stage. last year was the first quiet and somewhat normal season Steaua has had in a long time (no owner overstepping his boundaries and firing coaches at will, bringing in players chosen by him etc) and the results were good. in the meantime our owner has been jailed for 3 years (yay! ) which is a very positive thing, maybe not so much financially but certainly from a sporting and managerial point of view. For all our players on the pitch on matchday 1, the game against Schalke was their first ever in the Champions League and this kind of showed. Even so, up until the 67th minute it was very finely balanced. When they scored we came apart and Schalke banged in 2 more. we are still growing. to sum up, we haven't played CL football in 5 years. we are really happy to be here, we are not playing the best football our team is capable of atm but we will definitely give you a run for your money

We're not that bad once you get to know us Yes we are aware we're playing the friggin reigning champions of Europe and I hope we will play a good game of football to do our tradition proud. We're not a small club by any means, just a poorly managed club looking to regain our former shine. As I said, realistically this is just a good stepping stone for us to gain more experience and strengthen our team, whatever happens over these 2 legs, I hope we learn something from it. Is the game gonna be on Tv in England?

Actually those panels are a decent attempt at humor Not all those lines are funny but the ones about selling the club to the Russians and about John and player's wives are spot-on, you must admit It may not be 'politically correct' but still funny. anyway, something else to lighten the mood: after the return leg against Ajax, when we won 2-0 and qualified on penalties, our retarded owner was being interviewed live in one of the stadium studios and he said something along the lines of "of course we qualified. I was watching the TV and during the match they were filming the fans in the stands. First, a little kid was praying. Then, a woman was praying. In all shots our fans were praying with their hands clasped together. Of course God gave us victory! He could not have given it to Amsterdam, they have cocaine and heroin and marijuana and whores in the streets and that is the devil" that is what we are dealing with here since 2003 when he took over, so any success at this club is almost always against all odds

'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.

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)

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.

yep, that's all spot on. We will definitely not play 3-4-3, the coach experimented with that a couple of times during the first half of the season but it backfired miserably against Stuttgart when we lost 1-5 at home so he is now alternating between 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-4-1 the pitch may be a factor too, the stadium the game will be played in is new and looks the part but the pitch is poor after the winter break. however, it should affect both teams the same, our style of play is based on passing a lot and keeping possession and pressing high up the pitch when we lose it. I do expect some more caution from our team, compared to the Ajax game, as that was the last chance to go through whereas here there's 2 legs still to play and both teams will be looking not to concede in the first leg.

Steaua fan from Bucharest here. Just want to say I enjoy the banter that goes on around football in England. Around here the discussions are much more violent, if you will, there's a lot of 'fuck your club' and not much else. So I was really happy to see us get drawn against an English team. Honestly for us Chelsea is kind of a bonus, we didn't really fancy ourselves against Ajax in the round of 32, but our team has really grown and matured this year. They are basing the national team on a kot of Steaua players so they are steadily gathering good experience. After playing in the Amsterdam Arena, i reckon playing at Stamford Bridge will be another good stepping stone for our players. I predict at least a draw and hope we dont concede any at home. Even though our coach says different, I know that the players are always more motivated for European games than in the league, even Europa League games that dont have all the CL glitz. Oh yeah and the club's owner is a nutcase. You may have heard of him, The Guardian are always writing about his antics. He is retarded and I apologize for him in advance