Bucharest football club Rapid beat Steaua on rival turf in the Romanian championship Sunday night. Rapid scored two goals and received none against a thoroughly dominated Steaua, which three days before was ousted from the UEFA Cup by Middlesbrough and lost its chance to go to the European finals.
Steaua had beaten Rapid in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals after two perfectly balanced games: 1-1 and 0-0.
The victory on Sunday brings Rapid at the top of the Romanian A Division after two goals scored by Pancy and Viorel Moldovan against the current national champions Steaua, who seemed disordered and tired.
Rapid had lost all its matches against Steaua on rival turf since August 1999, when they managed a 3-1.
The Sunday match was the first to be attended by President Traian Basescu accompanied by Steaua owner Gigi Becali, a maverick businessman-politician, after a scandal affected the head of state several weeks ago when the two partied together to celebrate Steaua’s advance to the UEFA Cup semifinals.
