Next stop: Romania
By Thomas Myren, 4 August 2005, 11:54
Steaua Bucuresti won the 2nd leg against Shelbourne easily 4-1, and are therefore set to face Rosenborg in the 3rd qualifying round to Champions league.
Established: 7 June 1947
Hometown: Bucharest, Romania
Homeground: Stadionul Ghencea
Capacity: 27,063
Kit colour: All red
Honours: Champion Clubs' Cup (1986), 22 league and 20 cup championships
Head coach: Oleg Protasov
Topscorer 2004/05: Nicolae Marius Dica (18 goals on 30 matches)
The Romanians had a good basis in front of Wednesday's match after playing 0-0 in Dublin last week, and did nothing wrong against heatstroken Irishmen - there was up to 40°C in Bucharest yesterday.
Steaua took an early 2-0 lead after goals from Banel Nicolita and Victoras Iacob. Jason Byrne scored before the break, but Shelbourne had in reality no chance against the well playing hometeam which scored two more goals in the end of the game: Laurentiu Dinita and Daniel Oprita on a penalty.
Rosenborg now have to hurry to book flight tickets to Romania; the away match is set to be played already on Wednesday. But if RBK shall have any chance going through to the group phase, they have to improve drastically compared to yesterday's 1-5 loss away to Fredrikstad.
"There is no doubt about that. Do we play like we did against Fredrikstad, we have nothing to do in Champions League," team captain Roar Strand tells Canal+.
The 2nd leg in Trondheim will be played Tuesday 23 August.
