Football.co.uk's Thomas Hyde gives you the lowdown on Liverpool's Europa League opponents Steaua Bucharest
Liverpool v Steaua Bucharest match preview
History
Established in 1947 under the name ASA Bucuresti, Steaua Bucharest are undeniably the most successful Romanian club team of all time.
Currently they hold the record for most League titles (23), Romanian Cups (20) and Romanian Supercups (5).
Their success is not limited to domestic triumphs with Steaua lifting the European Cup and the European Super Cup in 1986.
The Boss and familiar face
Ilie Dumitrescu returned to the club as manager shortly over a month ago after enjoying two spells with Steaua as a player and is widely touted as the club academy’s finest graduate.
The 41-year-old turned out for both Tottenham and West Ham during the 90s but failed to make a major impact making just 28 appearances in total.
After retiring at the age of 29, Dumitrescu first turned to player agency before heading into coaching at the turn of the century.
Since then, Dumitrescu has taken the reins at 12 different clubs in Cyprus, Greece and Romania with limited success.
Preparation
Steaua qualified for the Europa League competition proper with a penalty shoot out victory over Grasshoppers.
Liverpool’s opponents have made a bright start to their 2010/11 League campaign and currently sit joint top of the Romania Liga 1 with Bucharest rivals Rapid and Dinamo.
On their last league outing they were defeated 1-0 by Unirea Urziceni.
One to watch – Bogdan Stancu
Romanian frontman Stancu goes into this fixture in a rich vein of form having notched up five goals in six pre-season games and five goals in seven league games.
Earlier this month, in his third appearance for Romania the 23-year-old scored his first international goal in a 1-1 draw with Albania.
Trivia
In 1988, Steaua was the first football team from Romania to display the name of a Western company when Ford became their official shirt sponsors.
Source: DSG
