Editor’s Note: This Kyiv Post feature introduces readers to interesting expatriates who have chosen to make Ukraine their home. We welcome readers’ suggestions about expats to profile. Please send ideas to [email protected].
Mircea Lucescu
Nationality: Romanian
Age: 66
Position: Head coach of Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club
Length of stay in Ukraine: 7 1/2 years
NICOSIA, Cyprus – When Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu came to speak to the press after his team’s commanding 2-0 win over APOEL in the Champions League, there wasn’t a hint of a smile on his face.
Despite the victory, the Miners were out of Europe’s top club competition after earlier poor results left them in last place in their group – a major disappointment for the 66-year-old Romanian, who last year led his team to the quarterfinals.
For Shakhtar fans, the Dec. 6 elimination was a disaster. For European soccer experts, a sensation, given last year’s impressive performances. For Lucescu, it was a source of immense frustration.
“We simply had to show that our team is stronger than one that ends the group in first place, and we did it,” he said, referring to APOEL, which won the group. “It was just a little late.”
The level of disappointment is a testament to what Lucescu has already achieved at Shakhtar. The experienced coach, who has also worked for the Romanian national team and top clubs in Italy and Turkey, has become the most successful in independent Ukraine.
Since he arrived in 2004, Shakhtar has won five Ukrainian championships, three Ukrainian Cups and the UEFA Cup, Europe’s second most prestigious club trophy, in 2009.
Known as “Mister” by the players, Lucescu has earned plaudits across Europe for the attacking style of play he has instilled in his team.
After the game against APOEL, he blamed earlier slips in the competition for the team’s surprise early exit. “We made many mistakes earlier, and these mistakes were unpredictable,” he said.
The story of Lucescu at Shakhtar is closely linked with that of the city of Donetsk, the industrial powerhouse of eastern Ukraine. At the start of the 2000s, the city was falling apart, with poor infrastructure and a reputation as the country’s criminal capital.
After two foreign coaches left in quick succession, the owner of Shakhtar. Rinat Akhmetov, who is also Ukraine’s richest man, offered Lucescu a big-money contract and carte blanche to bring in top players. The Romanian coach, whose home country also suffered hard times after the Soviet collapse, took the chance.
In seven years, he has turned an obscure team into a regular Champions League team known across Europe for its exciting style of play. Shakhtar plays a quick passing game based around the skills and speed of its Brazilian players, who implement Lucescu’s philosophy.
The team is sometimes compared to Barcelona, the Spanish side whose passing football has made it one of the best teams of all time.
“A lot has changed in my seven years in Donetsk,” Lucescu said in an interview on Dec. 7. “Shakhtar became a respected team, which is invited to play in friendly games. For us that’s a step forward.”
Naturally quiet and introspective, Lucescu gives a large share of the credit to Shakhtar’s owner Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man. His millions have bought new star players from Brazil and elsewhere, as well as building a new ultra-modern stadium.
The coach said Akhmetov reminded him of Massimo Moratti, president of Italian giant Inter Milan. “Both of them love football more than money,” he said.
According to Lucescu, Akhmetov is always looking at ways to improve the club.
“He has invested huge sums in the club’s infrastructure. … He never stops learning and demands the same from us,” Lucescu said.
The Romanian coach has been rewarded for his success.
His current contract, which ends in May next year, is worth more than $3 million per year, according to World Soccer website. He said he is “100 percent sure” that he will prolong his contract, and that this will be decided over the winter.
The stability of having one coach for many years has given Shakhtar a platform for success. Dynamo Kyiv, the Miners’ main rival in Ukraine, has changed managers 10 times in the past seven years and has enjoyed significantly less success.
As much as Lucescu is loved in Donetsk, he is despised by fans of other clubs and sometimes appears even to provoke them with his comments, protecting his players from their attacks by drawing them onto himself.
Lucescu always seems to know more than he gives away. He knows six languages and although he speaks through an interpreter, he clearly knows Russian well.
Waiting at the airport in Cyprus, he is the picture of modesty and calm – carrying his own bags and waiting patiently in line. It’s hard to imagine him yelling at his players, as he said he does in his autobiography.
Lucescu said he is happy in Donetsk, where he lives with his wife.
“Sometimes I go to restaurants in Donetsk, but the largest part of my time is dedicated in one way or another to football,” he said.
To lift Shakhtar back to the heights it has recently experienced, he’ll need to do just that.
Kyiv Post staff writer Kostya Dovgan can be reached at [email protected].
Читайте об этом на www.kyivpost.ua
