With a career as a sports commentator, held for almost four decades, Emil Grădinescu remained an unmistakable voice in Romanian football.
Emil Grădinescu, one of the well -known commentators in Romania. TV capture
Recently, the former economist acknowledged that he was marked by one of the Star’s parties, which he commented on, and at the end of which he was assaulted and threatened with death.
On November 4, 1997, Steaua played in Corsica the second hand in the UEFA Cup. In the first leg, the band from Ghencea had been imposed with a score of 1-0 in front of Bastia, and in return, the branches won 3-2.
Both the footballers and the supporters of Bastia were extremely violent. What was shocked on Emil Grădinescu was the fact that the supporters, in the party’s fairy, gave Buzana over him in the cabin, hit him and insulated him in difficult ways to imagine. Moreover, one of the fans suggested, by a sign, that he will cut his neck.
“I was afraid, the story is known, in Bastia, when Steaua played there, away. He had left with 1-0 from Bucharest. At Bastia there was something that could turn … Let’s not say a slaughter. Although a girl showed me the knife and did it (no one with her finger).
There were absolutely demented fans, who threatened us … well, more, that I was the only joke there, I was talking and enjoying the goals.
“We do not leave him alone. I do these noodles!”
It ended 3-2, Steaua drove 2-0 at the break and I was very excited, especially at the goal.
At one point, the stewards came and said: Let’s get out of here, you can’t stay, you’re in danger. I wanted to leave, but I found that I could not take the commentator box with me, so I stayed in place and the journalists returned: Well, we did not leave it alone here, that I do the noodle.
After all, I escaped well. But I took some snacks and strokes. I took a frankness with the consistency of a brick, he pulled one in my head, they all struck me through “Scufiță!”said Emil Grădinescu, for the youtube channel Orange Sport.
Star players were marginalized by the locals by the locals
That qualification was, however, one of the most difficult for the team in Romania. The players felt the pressure before the match. Valeriu Răchita, at that time at Steaua, told how the sellers did not even want to offer them coffee in the city.
On the field, the supporters of the hosts continually thrown with objects. The referee, outdated by the situation, allowed very harsh entries from Bastia. Laurențiu Rosu fractured his forearm in a duel and needed six months of recovery.
The match became even more tense when Steaua drove 2-0. The players were hit just under the eyes of the referee.
At that time, the regulation was quite different. The star went on in the competition, even though the general “double” score was 3-3. Then the rule of goals scored on the move, and the Bucharest residents passed two goals ticked on the rival field.
In the end, the players in Corsica undressed and waited for the stelists at the tunnel to the locker room.
