Marius Lacatuș

Marius Mihai Lacatuș (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈmari.us miˈhaj ləkəˈtuʃ]; born 5 April 1964) is a Romanian football coach and former professional footballer. He is by far the most successful footballer ever to play for Steaua București and was part of their European Cup victory in 1986. Lacatuș is the all-time top scorer for Steaua with 16 goals in European competitions. On 7 July 2021, Steaua retired his shirt number 7 at the inauguration match of the new Steaua Stadium.

He played as a deep lying striker or inside forward for Steaua București most of his career, being the team's captain between 1994 and 1999. He also played for Italian side Fiorentina and Real Oviedo in Spain.

Club Career

Lacatuș was an iconic player for Steaua București's supporters. Even now, many years after leaving the club as a player, the supporters shout his name at home games. The supporters loved him for his spectacular way of playing football, as well as for his commitment during the games. He was nicknamed Fiara (The Beast).

He was the first player to score in the penalty shoot-out of the 1986 European Cup final against FC Barcelona, won by Steaua. After 1990 World Cup in Italy, where he scored two goals against the USSR, Lacatuș was signed by the Italian team ACF Fiorentina and then moved to Real Oviedo in Spain. In 1994, he returned to Steaua and played for the team until 1999, when he finally signed for FC Național București, where he played only for half a season before retiring. However, in October 2006 he decided to enroll himself as part of UT Arad team where he was also coach until 2007 before he joined FCSB.

On 25 March 2008 he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Basescu with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" — (Order of Sporting Merit) class II for his part in winning the 1986 European Cup Final.

Lacatuș played a total of 414 games in the Romanian Divizia A (now Liga I), scoring 103 goals; 21 games in the Italian Serie A where he scored three times and also 51 games in

This page also has a version in other languages :  Мариус Лэкэтуш (russian)