Romanian Mircea Lucescu becomes the fifth coach with 100 UEFA Champions League games

Romanian Mircea Lucescu, 70, became on Wednesday, October 21, the fifth coach to oversee 100 UEFA Champions League games (group stage to final) after his team Shakhtar Donetsk lost the match against Malmo in Sweden (final score 0-1). The Romanian has thus joined an exclusive group that also includes Sir Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti, Arsène Wenger, and José Mourinho. UEFA has made a review of the Romanian coach’s activity, which shows 35 victories, 24 draws, and 40 defeats. In most of the games (65) Lucescu has managed Shakhtar, the other teams he has led being Beşiktaş (6 games), Galatasaray (26), and Internazionale (3). FC Barcelona was the most frequent opponent with eight games (two victories, one draw, and five defeats), followed by AC Rome with six games (three wins, two draws, and one defeat). Mircea Lucescu’s best performance was reaching the quarterfinals with Shakhtar in 2010/11, with Galatasaray in 2000/01, and with Inter in 1998/99. His biggest win was in the game played against Bate Borisov on October 21, 2014, which Shakhtar won with a score of 7-0. On the other hand, the biggest loss was recorded in March this year, when Lucescu’s team Shakhtar lost against Bayern Munich 0-7. Lucescu has also overseen 28 qualifiers, including one tie with Romania’s Rapid Bucuresti. Who are the most popular sports personalities in Romania? Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: shakhtar.com)