The story of an unforgettable night

For Rapids’ fans it’s a disaster that the team did not qualify for the European Cups in the last two years, but still, the players brought them a couple of memorable nights. Most important of all, was the game against Steaua, which had been played in april 2010.

Rapid won that game with 5-1! It was the best result ever for the team from Giulești against Steaua. At half time the score table was indicating already 4-1. Ioniță opened the score with a fantastic header in the 7th minute, but after a couple of minutes, eight to be precise, Kapetanos, the Greek forward put Steaua level from a penalty kick caused by the erratic Marius Constantin. But in the 17th minute Ioniță struck again, after he speculated a big mistake for which both goalkeeper Tătărușanu and defender Tudose were responsable. 2-1 for Rapid and the fans were ecstatic. After only five minutes, Spadacio fired a through pass for Cesinha. The brazilian winger was one an one with the opposite goalkeeper but he looked like he was going to miss! He lift the ball over Tătărușanu but it seemed that it will go out of the post. Than, he stretched and reached it with his toe tip and put the ball into the goal. 3-1 and Rapid brought already happiness for the fans! But only a quarter of the game past… so they could not see themselves winners. This fact lasted only until the 31st minute, when the referee gave another penalty kick, but this time for Rapid. Emeghara hit Grigorie inside the goal area and Marius Constantin wanted revenge. He executed with a power shot and took the score up to 4-1. All the fans, including me, were in the seventh heaven! After a little more than half an hour Rapid was making the game of our dreams!
Nothing important happened until the break and so this score lasted until the players went to the dressing rooms. 4-1 and Rapid would not lose any points. Not in this wonderful evening!

As the second time started, Bogdan Stancu missed a good chance for Steaua but Rapid was still in charge of the game. They did not played as aggressive like in first half but they did make a great game. In the 72nd minute, Grigorie left the pitch and Helder entered as a substitute. As I realized the change Helder already scored the last goal! A shot from Bozovic denied by the post ricochet to the Brazilian right back who pushed the ball inside the goal. The atmosphere in the crowd wa unbelievable as you do not often see on other Romanian stadium. Eventually the match ended and Rapid achieved a big performance only after a day after their former legend, Sandu Neagu passed away. The players dedicated the victory to his memory. Unfortunately that big win had no value at the end of the season as Rapid did not manage to catch a place from those which guaranteed them a qualification to Europe League. But as the song say, “chiar de terminăm pe zece, batem Steaua și ne trece” (eventhough we finish 10th, we beat Steaua and bring forward). This season the team from Ghencea did better on Giulești, our nightmare came when they put us out of the Romanian Cup. Only the league match remains for Rapid. The one on Steauas’ pitch. A tough game, but in which I’m sure that we will repeat the performance from two years ago…