Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
Despite already speaking a Otelul Galati fan – Daniel Marian – just after the Champions League group-stage draw last month, I thought it would be good to chat to another fan of the Romanian Champions, to find out even more about the team who months ago nobody had heard of.
Here’s what Leo Macavei – @simontwee – had to say to me yesterday about how Galati fans felt when the draw for the Champions League was made, what United fans can expect when they travel to Romania this month, whether or not Galati have any players who could potentially play in England and how they have struggled so far this seaon.
Firstly what were your thoughts on the group draw and do you feel confident that Galati will show that they deserve to be in the competition this season?
When the draw was made, everybody in Galati was bursting with impatience and was literally down on their knees praying that we would be drawn against Barcelona, which was the team that our passionate chairman Marius Stan wanted us to get leading up to the draw. Our Coach Dorinel Munteanu wanted one of the German teams in the draw like Bayern, having played in the Bundesliga in his career.
The firecrackers were not smothered by getting Manchester United though. I believe Otelul got a spectacular set of matches. Benfica will bring Latin exuberance, United will bring history in action, mythology in living flesh. As for Basel, we know a lot about them in Romania as they played CFR Cluji the other year.
I hoped that my team would really mark their achievement in being in the Champions League after winning our domestic league last season, but I was also afraid that Otelul would throw in the towel after being footballistically. Apparently my worst fears have been confirmed.
What does it mean for Galati to be drawn against Manchester United, who are the top-ranked side in Europe according to UEFA’s club coefficient over the last 5 seasons?
In a way it’s like being invited to dinner by Sir Alex Ferguson. You might have a lot of things in your life, but no glorious memory whatsoever. For the people of Galati it is like being selected to act as the main characters in Harry Potter, a magic moment to treasure. It feels like a chance to do something that matters. To do the best you can against a team that won everything!
What can United fans going to the game in Bucharest expect the atmosphere to be like at the National Stadium if they have not been before? What sets it apart from other stadiums across Europe?
United fans can expect a modern stadium. At last, Romania has a great arena that is deserving of hosting a European Final and the stadium will this year, as it will be the venue of the Europa League Final. Against Benfica, the stadium was almost empty, regretfully only 7 000 fans showed up. But the prices have been cut for the United match, and you can count for a lot of people from Bucharest to come.
There will be a good atmosphere, as usual. Liverpool came here in the last two years against Steaua and Unirea Urziceni, I don’t remember any incidents, in fact there are a lot of United fans in Romania that will be on your side. United last visit in Romania was exactly in the same place but on the old stadium, against Dinamo. There are alot of pubs in Bucharest and if you want some warnings, I will give you some in due time.
Are Galati fans disappointed in one respect that your home ground, the Stadionul Otelul will not be hosting games or are they pleased that the games are taking place in Romania’s newest stadium as surely it will mean the whole country will behind the team?
We were aware that Otelul will not play on the home ground in the competition. The conditions in our home ground are far from decent. I do not want to go into the details as of such, but will say that Galati is an industrial town, and the scarce audience last week at our game versus Benfica was determined mostly by the economic situation which priced out a lot of fans.
The simple fact that the game was played during the week. Many could not simply afford the ticket price plus transportation and lodging eventually. Unfortunately, Otelul did not play well against Benfica, It could have been a turning point for neutral fans to encourage us in the future.
Who are your star players that United fans will need (as well as the team obviously) to keep an eye on over the two games?
Frankly, there is nobody to watch right now, not even the team! This season the spirit faded, the team deflated. In Basel we had 20 minutes when we thought we can rob some Swiss bank but didn’t, against Benfica we were a chicken’s prey for the eagles. We couldn’t sting even three consecutive passes together and only had once chance in the game which was missed near the end.
Benfica did what they needed to and it was too easy for them. They got abit bored with the rhythm of the game and after Bruno Cesar scored the first goal ever scored inside the new stadium, the game was over. History I feel was ashamed at us as we should have played better and really pressured them, but we did neither.
In answering your question about who our star players are, the first name that comes to mind is Gabriel Paraschiv who is at 33 is our veteran of the team. He is a player capable of creating goals as well as scoring them and is a key to how we set up in games. Our right sided defender Cornel Rapa is a good youngster and is being compared to Dan Petrescu (who famously played for Chelsea). Our central midfielder Gabriel Giurgiu resembles your former player Paul Scholes and is a very influential but quiet player.
Our captain Sergiu Costin is probably our most important player. He is very similar to Spurs defender Ledley King and isn’t the most mobile of defenders. He is though mature enough to co-ordinate his mates and cover everybody in desperate situations. But we have no real star player. Otelul never had in the last years great players. And the decent ones were sold instantly, but we have decent young players coming through and have players in the Romanian national set-up now for the first time in our history.
Fans in England may remember your manager Dorinel Munteanu who you mentioned earlier, from his playing career for the Romanian national team and for his goal that he scored against England in Euro 2000. Since taking over in 2009, he’s enjoyed success for Galati. What do your fans think of him and what are his best qualites as a manager?
Munteanu started disastrously at Otelul and was on the verge of being sacked. But then, the team grew around him and played in the same way that he did as a player showing hard work, discipline and determination, excellent physical prowess, tactical obedience and efficiency etc.
Of course, now he is a local hero, although he shares the credits with our chairman Stan. If Dorinel instilled ambition – he wanted revenge after some setbacks as a coach – Stan is a man of vision, the miracle worker and is a candidate to become Mayor of Galati next year after
Munteanu is a maniac, no nonsense guy who does not accept from his players anything but total commitment. He can enrage some of them because of that, but they know this is the only way to deal with him. I feel he resembles Petrescu who was in charge of Unirea Urziceni and they share a very similar management style.
Who would you say is your best young player at the club? Is there anyone at your club who you feel has the potential or quality one day to become a star name in the Premier League or even at Old Trafford?
Rapa that I have mentioned is better than Benoit Assou-Ekotto at any given match who doesn’t convince me for Spurs at all. Laurentiu Bus, another young player who can be intense juxt like Park Ji-Sung in midfield. Inot Neagu, also a youngster, promises to be Anderson, but all these infatuated projections made by myself are not truly accurate.
I am trying hard to give you a glimpse of their quality, the whole image can be perceived only in the game. Not one of them is Premier League material. But Basel could not have boasted that many of their players could rub shoulders with Fernando Torres, Serigo Aguero, or Gareth Bale, and look what happened!
By the way, there’s probably only one Romanian player, Gabriel Torje, now at Udinese, was for sure adequate for Premier League! Otelul is not a chiseled team, art is a luxury for teams like us, but not for United or Barcelona.
How do you foresee the two games going between the sides and will you be going to either game?
I have very low expectations right now. Otelul has lost its mettle, its fierceness. We are playing like a tamed team and right now they look doomed. We are sitting in 10th place in the league at the moment and lost 2-1 on Saturday to Steaua Burachest after conceding a goal deep into added time, so our fans are very frustrated at the moment.
However dim though the light is for Galati fans, the sparkle and passion will always be there for us and we are always hopeful that our fortunes can be turned around. The best score I feel for us in both games would be a 3-0 defeat. I hope I will be there at the game in Bucharest with my youngest son – who funnily enough is a big fan of United, but can’t even dream about going to the game at Old Trafford sadly.
And despite losing their first two games, is there any chance Galati can make it through to the Last 16?
Only if I am Harry Potter! Or you could somehow loan us one of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Nani, Evra or Darron Gibson (who I rate!) but seeing as the transfer-window’s shut, it would be difficult for us to get any of them!
Thanks For That Leo!
By @ADennehey87
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