Qarabag’s 7th opponent in the UEFA Europa League Group Stage is FCSB, a club from Romania that has claimed the domestic championship a record 27 times. Established in 1947, FCSB has a storied history, having first won the Romanian title in 1951.
FCSB's golden era came in the 1980s when they triumphed in the 1986 European Cup, followed by a UEFA Super Cup victory the same year. In 1989, the club advanced to the final of the Champions Cup. These achievements were bolstered by the legendary presence of Gheorghe Hagi, who played a key role in the club’s success from 1987 to 1990, Idman.biz reports.
Currently, FCSB is second in the Romanian league standings with 38 points from 22 matches, trailing leaders CFR Cluj by just two points. Forward Daniel Birligea leads the league’s scoring chart with 10 goals, while Darius Olaru has scored 8 goals for the team.
In European competitions, FCSB’s journey in the previous season started in the Champions League qualifiers, where they easily defeated San Marino’s Virtus (7-1, 4-0), then narrowly overcame Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv (1-1, 1-0). However, they were unable to advance past Czech side Sparta Prague (1-1, 2-3) and moved on to the Europa League playoffs. FCSB defeated Austria’s LASK (1-1, 1-0) and kicked off the group stage with victories over Latvia’s RFS (4-1) and Greece’s PAOK (1-0). After a heavy loss to Rangers (0-4), they bounced back with a 2-0 win over Denmark’s Midtjylland.
Throughout the Champions League qualifiers, FCSB scored 16 goals, with Darius Olaru contributing 4, while Malcolm Edjouma and David Miculescu scored 3 each. In the Europa League, Birligea and Olaru each scored 3 goals in the playoffs and group stage.
Vugar Mammadov
Idman.biz
