Source: Liverpool_Echo
Pre-match preview: Liverpool FC v Steaua Bucharest, Europa League
Liverpool's last five games[LNB]Sept 12: Premier League - Birmingham 0, Liverpool 0[LNB]August 29: Premier League - Liverpool 1 West Brom 0[LNB] August 26: Europa League - Trabzonspor 1 Liverpool 2[LNB]August 23: Premier League - Manchester City 3 Liverpool 0[LNB]August 19: Europa League - Liverpool 1 Trabzonspor 0[LNB]Steaua's last five games[LNB]Sept 11: Romanian League - Unirea Uziceni 1 Steaua 0[LNB]August 29: Europa League - Steaua 1, Fc Timisoara 1[LNB]August 26: Romanian League - Grasshoppers Zurich 1, Steaua 0 (1-1 on agg, Steaua won 4-3 on pens)[LNB]August 21: Romanian League - FC Vaslui 0, Steaua 3[LNB]August 19: Europa League - Steaua 1, Grasshoppers Zurich 0[LNB]Past meetings[LNB]Nov 6 2003: UEFA Cup 2nd round 1st leg - Steaua 1, Liverpool 1 - match report[LNB] Nov 27 2003: UEFA Cup 2nd round 2nd leg - Liverpool 1, Steaua 0 (L'pool won 2-1 on agg) - match report[LNB] The Reds have only met Steaua once before in European competition, winning 2-1 on the UEFA Cup during Gerard Houllier's final season at the Anfield helm, a tie notable for being the scene of Djimi Traore's one and only goal for the Reds[LNB]Liverpool have also faced both of Steaua's city neighbours in competitive European competition - Dinamo Bucharest, who annhilated Everton 5-1 (6-2 agg) in the 2005/6 UEFA Cup, were seen off 4-1 on aggregare in the second round of the 1970/71 Fairs Cup and more famously were the side who stood in the way of Joe Fagan's side in the spring of 1984 as they stood on the brink of a fourth European Cup Final in seven years.[LNB]Sammy Lee's header gave Liverpool a slender advantage to take to Romania for the second leg of the semi-final where the Reds, and in particular Graeme Souness, faced a hostile reception after Dinamo midfielder Movila had sustained a broken jaw.[LNB] However Fagan's side's had won every match they had played away from Anfield thus far in the competition - at Odense, Bilbao and Benfica - and turned in a signature away performance with two predatory strikes from Ian Rush, on his way to 49 goals that season, secured a 2-1 win on the night and a place against AS Roma in the Final in their own Olympic Stadium.[LNB]Rapid Bucharest meanwhile were seen off 1-0 on aggregate at the start of the Reds' triumphant 2000/01 UEFA Cup campaign, Nick Barmby scoring the winner in the away tie with his first goal for the club.[LNB]
