CL, MD1: FC Steaua Bucuresti 0 - 1 FC Bayern München

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UEFA Champions League 2008/09, Group Stage, Matchday 1
FC Steaua Bucuresti v FC Bayern München

Stadium: Steaua Stadium, Bucharest
Kick-off: Wednesday, 17 September 2008, 20.45h

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Match background
Steaua under pressure as Bayern return

Two Romanian sides take part in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time and FC Steaua Bucureşti, the only previous representatives from that country, will be determined not to be outshone by newcomers CFR 1907 Cluj. A home game with FC Bayern München is a tough way for Marius Lăcătuş' team to start.

• This is the third season in a row that the Bucharest club have taken their place on Europe's grandest stage – matching their achievement between 1994/95 and 1996/97 – and their first aim in Group F will be to do better than finish third. That has been their concluding position in three of their five campaigns; in the others they finished fourth.

• With CFR Cluj taking Romania's automatic qualifying berth after a first league title triumph in their 101-year history in 2007/08, Steaua were again forced to take the qualifying route into the UEFA Champions League. After a 2-2 draw away to Galatasaray AŞ they booked their place thanks to Bănel Nicoliţă's 57th-minute goal in the return. Remarkably, it was the third successive time they had got through the third qualifying round with a win in Bucharest after a 2-2 scoreline in the away leg, having overcome R. Standard de Liège 4-3 on aggregate in 2006/07 and FC BATE Borisov 4-2 a year later. This time around, Dairo Moreno and Nicoliţă gave Steaua a significant opening-leg advantage with two goals inside the first 13 minutes in Istanbul.

• Last season, the 1986 European champions began their group-stage campaign with a 2-1 away defeat by SK Slavia Praha and followed that with a home defeat against Arsenal FC. Steaua lost five of their six fixtures and, with just a single point, finished bottom of Group H.

• In 30 group matches over five campaigns, the Bucharest club have amassed just four wins – and ten draws – and only two of those victories have come at home. Both were by 1-0 margins, against Rangers FC in 1995/96 and Widzew Lódz the following season.

• Four previous fixtures with German visitors in European competition have yielded only one home victory for Steaua. That came in the first round of the 1957/58 European Champion Clubs' Cup when BV Borussia Dortmund were dispatched 3-1. They have met Bayern once before, drawing 1-1 at home and 0-0 away in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final to bow out on away goals.

• When Bayern missed out on last year's tournament, it broke a run of ten successive campaigns. During that sequence, they lifted the trophy in 2001 and finished as runners-up two years earlier.

• Bayern took the 2007/08 Bundesliga title with a ten-point advantage over second-placed Werder Bremen, earning themselves a ticket into the UEFA Champions League group stage under new coach Jürgen Klinsmann. The Bavarian club enjoyed four successive qualifications into the knockout rounds between 2003/04 and 2006/07 and will be looking to reproduce that form again.

• Their Romanian opponents will be cautious going into this game because Bayern have hit the ground running in their last three campaigns. In 2006/07, they won their first three fixtures and did not concede a goal in their first four. Although their last three games were all drawn, they had done enough to finish with a two-point advantage over FC Internazionale Milano at the head of the group.

• The previous season, Bayern also opened with three successive victories. In 2004/05, they won their first two games without conceding a goal.

• Bayern have not met Romanian opponents in a competitive game since the 1981/82 European Champion Clubs' Cup when they overcame quarter-final opponents FC Universitatea Craiova, winning 2-0 away and drawing 1-1 in Germany. They reached the final but their dream of securing a fourth title triumph foundered as Aston Villa FC beat them.

• At UEFA EURO 2008™, Willy Sagnol and Franck Ribéry played for France against a Romania side featuring Mirel Rădoi, Dorin Goian and Nicoliţă. The Steaua trio then played against an Italy team whose attack was led by Luca Toni.

• The other opening Group F game is between Olympique Lyonnais and ACF Fiorentina.

uefa.com*-*UEFA Champions League*-*Fixtures & Results

[Munchen Minded]

This is so exciting, after more than a year being in the CL I just can't wait!!!

There is only one real thought of concern, and unfortunately it has to do with Rensing. Remember back to last season in the UEFA cup, I felt that teams know how to beat Rensing -- by simply playing long shots. That is how goals seem to be scored easy against Rensing -- maybe a problem with his positioning and not paying attention when shots get hit from far range, but he does well up close. So I sure hope Rensing is working on handling long range efforts.

[RunX]

Some key players for steaua:

Nicolae Dorin Goian - He was good in the Euro 08 he is a center back 194cm
Gheorghe Ogararu - a right back former ajax player
Róbinson Zapata - The kolembian international goal keeper
Mirel Matei Radoi - Best player in the team and he is the leader he impresive alot in euro 08, Koln and Inter Milan were intersted in him.

Steaua currently in the 4th rank in the romanian leauge.

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Predictions: v Steaua Bucharest (A, CL)

[B@v@r3zU]

Radoi will not play against Bayern...and we should pay attention to Toja

[RunX]

Originally Posted by B@v@r3zU

Radoi will not play against Bayern...and we should pay attention to Toja

Radoi Why he will not play ?

Originally Posted by RunX

Radoi Why he will not play ?

Aha, Good , He is injured

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Steaua defeated FC Farul Constanta away 4-1. League match.

Their goals were scored by: Semedo, Stancu, Kapetanos and Szekely.

Their line-up was: Cernea - Ogararu, Goian, Ghionea, Marin – Lovin (80. Moreno), Tiago Gomes - Semedo, Stancu, Toja (59. Szekely) - Bernhardt (74. Kapetanos)

[B@v@r3zU]

Michael Henke was there...he definitely make a beautiful report
anyway they have tall central defenders and I don't want to see long range pass(I don't say that we can't beat them at head but it's not the best solution).We have to keep the ball down, with fast short pass we can beat their central defenders and their man on the flanks are very fast so I think that they will play counter-attack.I think their starting line-up will look like this 4-2-3-1:

.....................Zapata

Ogararu...Goian.....Ghionea....Marin

.............Lovin.....Tiago Gomes(or Ov. Petre)

Semedo.....D. Moreno......Toja

...............A. Bernhardt


and if we play 3-5-2...we will be weak on flanks and like I said with their fast players there will cause us trouble

[RunX]

I'm Hoping for a Bayern good win, thats will give us 3 important points.

[RunX]

Why Klinsmann not trying this Formation: 4-3-1-2
Its a good Formation, 3 Centeral Midfelders will bring for us alot of control in this important zone.

I think that 3-5-2 will not work in CL.

[B@v@r3zU]

Personally I like 3-5-2...but with this formation we are weak on flanksso the best option is 4-4-2 or 4-1-2-1-2

[Oliver_Kahn]

Originally Posted by B@v@r3zU

Personally I like 3-5-2...but with this formation we are weak on flanksso the best option is 4-4-2 or 4-1-2-1-2

I agree, our flanks aren't strong enough.

Lahm is class but he can't do the entire flank on his own or he'll leave holes in defence, since Ottl (who I thought played very well vs Köln) can't cover for both him and Lell, who is shit. Then Schweinsteiger plays a lot in the center, he rarely moves to the wings and Ze Roberto has to help in the center as well, so our flanks are exposed, then we have van Buyten in defence who can do something crazy at any time.

..................Rensing (has been very good thus far)
Oddo....Lucio...Demichelis....Lahm
......Ottl/MvB.......ze Roberto
....Kroos...................Schweini
..............Toni....Klose

that would be my preferred line-up

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Some interesting stats:

*-- Steaua Bucharest is one of the fewest clubs that have not suffered a defeat from FC Bayern yet. The teams have met each other twice thus far, and that is a long time ago. In the 1971/72 season, FCB played in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup against Steaua. First leg in Steaua ended 1-1 (Gerd Müller the scorer for FCB), and the returning match in Munich ended 0-0. Bayern went through.

*-- In the past, Steaua have not been really strong at home. In their five Champions League seasons thus far, their last home win was twelve years ago, in the 1996/97 season, a 1-0 win against Widzew Lodz.

*-- Steaua's overall record in Champions League is not very good. From 30 matches (all in the Group Phase), they've managed only 4 wins, 10 draws and 16 defeats.

*-- Bayern will be playing with the completely white Champions League kit. White jerseys, white pants, white socks. Steaua will be playing with their traditional kit: red-blue stripped jerseys, red pants, red socks.

*-- For the first time ever, Dannish referee Claus Bo Larsen will referee a FC Bayern match. The 42-year-old has refereed 7 matches of German clubs thus far, and only one of them ended in a win for a German club. Larsen has refereed a Steaua match, the 2-0 win against West Ham nine years ago in UEFA Cup.


(translation from German to English by me ; source FC Bayern)


The match will be televised live by those TV channels:

SAT.1 Germany (free!)
A La Carte PPV 1
ART Sport 1
Champions 4 (Digital +)
Nova Sports 3 (Hellas)
ORF 1
Premiere Sport Portal
Pro TV
Sky Calcio 3
Sky Sports Interactive 8
Viasat Xtra

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‘Meeting of equals’
Romanians confident despite injury crisis

The Bayern party’s journey to the first Champions League tie of the season was a bumpy affair: a technical problem necessitated a change of plane in Munich, and hefty turbulence made the flight to Bucharest anything but relaxing. However, the Bavarians will not be thrown off course in their efforts to seal a first win of the campaign. “We’ve come here aiming for all three points,” Jürgen Klinsmann declared in Bucharest.

However, beating Steaua will be “a tough task“, as Luca Toni observed. The Romanians have lost only one of nine competitive fixtures this term, and knocked out Galatasaray in Champions League qualifying on a 3-2 aggregate score. “That should serve as a warning not to underestimate them,” remarked Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Seven missing for Steaua

Caution remains advisable despite an injury crisis plaguing the club from the Romanian capital. Alongside skipper Mirel Radoi (hamstring), Ifeany Emeghara, Pawel Golanski, Janos Szekely, Mihaita Plesan and Ovidiu Petre are out injured, while Banel Nicolita is both unfit and suspended.

Despite the missing seven, the Steaua camp is in bullish mood. “No-one’s invincible. The Bayern match is a meeting of equals,” declared Steaua executive president Valeriu Argaseala. Coach Marius Lacatus (pictured) reckons “we have the quality to survive in the Champions League.“

Klinsmann is not about to differ. “Steaua boast outstanding, technically gifted players,” the FCB coach admonished, advising his men to keep a wary eye on Brazilian striker Arthuro and his Colombian partner Dayro Moreno. “Jürgen has invested a lot of time on their team,” Uli Hoeneß revealed. No effort is being spared as Bayern seek a successful start to this term’s European adventure.

FC Bayern