Fear for Mircea Lucescu: "Acute myocardial infarction"
Mircea Lucescu, Romania’s former technical commissioner, was rushed to the operating room of the Cardiology Department of Bucharest University Hospital for an acute myocardial infarction. This was announced by the same hospital in the Romanian capital via a press release. “In the course of the morning,” it reads, “the patient suffered an acute myocardial infarction. He was hospitalized urgently and immediately benefited from the necessary medical and therapeutic procedures, in accordance with the protocols in force.”
“At the moment,” the note released late Friday morning continued, “his condition is stable, under constant specialist monitoring. The patient remains hospitalized in the cardiology department, under observation by doctors.”
The patient’s condition is stable. Lucescu had undergone surgery on Tuesday at the same hospital aimed at resolving a cardiac arrhythmia. For this reason he had been unable to take his place on the bench in Romania’s friendly against Slovakia, which the latter won 2-0.
On Thursday, the Romanian federation had announced the termination of the working relationship with Lucescu. The former coach of Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana and Inter, among others, had also been hospitalized in January and February for a few days due to a subcutaneous infection. He had been treated at first in Bucharest, then traveled to Belgium for further investigations. Despite his health problems, Lucescu had remained at the helm of the Romanian national team until the playoffs: a 1-0 defeat in Turkey, however, extinguished his dream of going to the World Cup.
In the communiqué in which the dismissal was announced, the Romanian Federation had thanked Lucescu, highlighting the balance of his tenure (eleven wins, one draw, and six defeats). The 1945-born coach had previously led his country’s selection in the 1980s, leading it to its historic first qualification for the 1984 European Championship.
At the international level, he had also led Turkey itself, from 2017 to 2019, however, missing the goal of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and leaving during the 2018-2019 Nations League.
