Brescia Romena
Introduction
Considered the greatest club owner from the history of Brescia, Gino Corioni was the president of the italian club from 1992 to 2014.
He invented, theoretically, what Italians and Romanians football fans call it these days “Brescia Romena”.
Firstly he hired the first ever Romanian manager in Italy: Mircea Lucescu. Shortly after that other Romanians would follow. Players such as Gică Hagi, Ioan Ovidiu Sabău, Florin Răducioiu, Dorin Mateuț and Dănuț Lupu would feature for the Lombard club under his leadership.
Below I am going to share a mini-timeline about Brescia Romena from what I learned in these years but before that one more thing.
Mr. Corioni is also the person who lured Pep Guardiola to Italy in 2001 transferring him from Barcelona. Which came as a shock for the football world at that time. At the end of this article I will present you Mr. Pep shirt from Brescia together with a little story.
It is unrelated to essence of this story but very related to my passion for collecting football memorabilia.
Mircea Lucescu quote from a UEFA symposium talk in 2017:
In 1991 it was decided that I would leave my position as a coach in Pisa and was in-talks with 3 teams: Standard Liege, Porto and Brescia. Porto even kept me hidden in an apartment to finalise the last details of the contract without me being influenced by other factors.
And I had to pick the team where I would like to go. Was talking with my wife and in the end we decided to randomly pick. To write the name of those three clubs on three pieces of paper and do a blindfold pick. I was very undecided.
My wife wanted us to stay in Italy, but I was not entirely sure. After I made the three pieces of paper and was ready to pick, I could not find the Brescia one. Looked everywhere for it and could not find it. It was stuck to my shoe sole. Then I told myself this is destiny. So I chose Brescia and stayed 5 years there.
Thus Mr. Lucescu first season in charge at Brescia was 1991–1992. Backed up by Gino Corioni in everything he wanted to do. After a great season in Serie B, managed to win a well-deserved promotion same year. All of this in his only second season in Italy after the one year experience lived in Pisa.
Corioni, on Lucescu: “Lucescu started his career coach with us. That is because he was coming from a country such as Romania, where there was no democracy and normality, and no football philosophy”.
The Romanian "colony" of Brescia
For the 1992–1993, Serie A, Brescia was thinking about how to strengthen itself to resist Inter, Milan, Juventus, Lazio, Roma, but above all to replace important players that were sold. Lucescu immediately thought of his old pupils, who had coached in the Romanian National Team and at Dinamo Bucharest 1989–1990.
We are talking about footballers like Hagi, Răducioiu, Sabău and Mateuț. Four elements of international level, which undoubtedly enriched the technical and experience background of the Lombard team. The purchase that caused the most sensation was certainly that of Gheorghe Hagi . The Romanian number ten was considered one of the most talented footballers in the world, and came from none other than the great Real Madrid.
The Romanian coach also lured Răducioiu, Sabău and Mateuț, players he had coached both in Dinamo Bucharest and in the national team and of which he obviously knew both strengths and weaknesses perfectly. In reality Florin Răducioiu was already his third experience in Italy, after the certainly not exciting adventures with Bari and Verona. The Romanian striker only showed his talent at times, but it turned out not to be consistent and perhaps still a bit immature for the Serie A, aged 23.
Sabău and Mateuț were footballers who had already accumulated important experiences in Europe, in the Netherlands and Spain respectively.
Hagi and his teammates finished the championship in fourth from last place on equal points with Fiorentina and Udinese. And after a relegation tie-off with Udinese they went back to Serie B after only one year in top division. The experience of the Romanian nationals was not enough.
The Romanian colony of Brescia: Season 2
With the relegation, Lucescu’s plans to take over Italy alongside his fellow Romanians were quickly shattered. Florin Răducioiu was the first to leave, his impressive season earning him a dream-move to Scudetto holders Milan, where he was given Marco Van Basten’s illustrious number 9 shirt.
The rest of the pack chose to stay to help win back promotion and so they did, with Hagi being one of the main performers in the 1993–1994 season.
The summer of 1994 saw Hagi marvel the entire World Cup attendance at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as he scored the tournament’s best goal against the Colombian goalkeeper from the middle of the field. His performance at the 1994 World Cup made Barcelona knock on Brescia’s door and swoop in for the Romanian playmaker at the end of this season.
Dorin Mateuț also left and not continue in Serie B, moving on to Reggiana for one year and then returning home to Dinamo Bucharest, where he would later retire.
The only one of the lot who stayed loyal to Lucescu was Ioan-Ovidiu Sabău, who stuck with his mentor until the end of his stint at Brescia, then followed him at Reggiana and Rapid Bucharest. Mr. Sabău really liked Italy. He stayed for his family and as he would mention later on in a interview:
“It’s easier for my kids here, they learn Italian very fast something that was not possible with dutch” (talking about his Feyenoord time)
He was also kept in high regards by the Italian press whom appreciated his “rough” approach on the pitch. All in all Brescia finished on 3rd place, Serie B, in 1993-1994 season and wins promotion to Serie A with Hagi, Sabău and Lucescu trio.
Mr. Hagi said in an interview that this season was one of the most though moments of his career.
The Romanian colony of Brescia: aftermath
Brescia returned to Serie A after only one year. But the 1994–1995 season is considered one of the worst ones in Brescia history as they set the record of the team with the lowest points ever in Serie A. This is also the first edition of Serie A in which three points are awarded for the victory, instead of two.
Mr. Lucescu is being sacked mid-season due to the poor results.
Dănuț Lupu, who joins that season as a replacement for Mr. Hagi, whom went to Barcelona, shows up in Lombardy at the beginning of the season with several excess kilos, and goes down in history only for the winning goal against Reggiana in the first round.
He was an unsuccessful bet of Lucescu or at least a brave attempt to continue with the concept of a team organised around Romanians.
Some Romanian old timers fans might say that Mr. Lupu has been more talented that Hagi in style of play. But his issues he had outside of the pitch lead him to live a football career in the shadow of Mr. Hagi. They were the biggest rivals of whom should wear number 10 in the National Team. To this day some football characters from the Romanian football entourage say his technical ability was beyond of what Hagi could do. I personally did not have the chance to see him playing live and only on video.
Sabău that season does not go beyond 12 appearances in 1994–1995. But instead he is picked on the cover of FIFA 96 by EA Sports. The cover is a snapshot between a duel with Andy Legg from a Anglo-Italian Cup Final , on Wembley, between Brescia and Notts County that was played in 1993–1994 season, one year before.
“I know I appeared in a video game, they called me and asked for my permission in 1994. Signed a contract where I gave the rights they can use my name and image. Yes, I was honored, but honestly I did never played the game. Never played video games. I did not even realised they will put me on the cover, I knew they only wanted to use my name and picture for something”, Sabau said in interview back in 2016.
In 1995–1996 season Brescia starts once again from Serie B and also recalling Mircea Lucescu on the bench to guide them to another Serie A promotion. Again he is sacked mid-season due to poor results. By winning in the last league match Brescia is saved from relegation to Serie C by a single point.
1996–1997 season will start with no Romanians at Brescia for the first time in 5 consecutive years.
And this was a short story-timeline of "Brescia Romena", a topic that is kept in high regards among any 90s “Il Calcio” fans. Mainly due the performance of Mr. Lucescu and guiding the team two times to Serie A by applying the concept of a Romanian football "colony" in Italy.
Here are some random facts that you might not know:
— Mr. Hagi was one of the most gifted football players in the world. But also one of the biggest slackers in terms of training. This was said in countless interviews by some of his generation colleagues and Mr. Lucescu did not even bother to fix that at Brescia. He let him be himself.
— Mateuț (nicknamed Matteo) and Hagi did not like the noisiness and the atmosphere around the club and the city. That is the reason they wanted to depart as soon as possible. Mr. Hagi was homesick and Mateuț was not featuring in many games.`
— In all of this timeframe Mr. Razvan Lucescu, the son, was around and learning the trade from his father. These days he is also one of the well known Romanian managers overseas. With his last experience at PAOK in Greece.
— After the first relegation of Brescia in Serie B, 1993–1994, the rules allowed only for 2 foreigners in a team. Thus the disintegration of the initial “Romanian” colony had happened. Mr. Hagi did not want to stay as he was afraid he would lose his spot in the national team but was convinced that would not to be the case. Him and Sabău stayed as they were the best players according to the stats of the year before.
— The initial sponsor of Brescia from that period was CAB: Credito Agricole Bresciano. They wanted Lucescu to stay after Brescia relegated to Serie B in 1993–1994 thus Mr. Corioni had to choose with his mind over his heart and not sack him.
Now I am making a paradigm shift from Brescia Romena of mid-90s to Pep Guardiola Brescia of early 00s.
Below are two classic football shirts of Brescia in my collection from 2001–2002 season. Believed to have been worn by two ex-captains of the Italian club: Josep Guardiola and Andrés Yllana in a Serie A game.
In the book “Che Pep — Guardiola’s connection with Argentine soccer” , written by the journalist Vicente Muglia, the author tells that Pep became close friends with Andrés Yllana.
The bond that Pep Guardiola formed with Andrés Yllana was so strong that, when Pep said goodbye to Brescia, he left him his signed shirt that read: “I had the pleasure of playing with you. With much affection, Pep”. Mr. Pep was always an admirer of Argentinian football from such early days thus you probably realise now why he boosted Messi and dedicated just a role for him in his Barcelona tactics.
The reason I post these shirts here is that I would like to let you know this shirts are up for swap/trade with any Romanian player shirt from Brescia Romena.
Fun fact: In the book “I Think, therefore, I play” Mr. Andrea Pirlo says that Lucescu was very important to him as a psychologist. “I was 15, he took me from the youth team and put me to train with the first team, with adults. 30-year-old men were annoyed by some boy getting in the way, and often they were very angry,” recalled Andrea in his own book.
“The first thing Lucescu whispered to me: “Play as usual.” I did, and not everyone liked it. Once I beat one of the veterans three times in a row the fourth attempt was fatal. He cut me down with a terrible kick to the ankle.
Lucescu was pleased: “It’s all right, great. Try to beat him again,” says Pirlo.
Mr. Lucescu never loses a chance in interviews to brag about seeing and promoting Mr. Pirlo to first-team football.
I regularly post stories about Romania match worn shirts on Instagram.
If you want to get in touch with me you can find me there as
onromanianfootball: https://www.instagram.com/onromanianfootball/
If you have a recommendation of a book that I have to read or if you have a project in mind about football or sports in general write me at:
hello [at] jeanpopescu.com
