# Ilie Bărbulescu (footballer)

Ilie Bărbulescu (24 June 1957 – 1 February 2020) was a Romanian footballer, he was a member of Steaua București's winning squad for the European Cup in 1986 and for the European Supercup in 1987.

## Club career

Ilie Bărbulescu, nicknamed "Balamuc" (Madhouse) was born on 24 June 1957 in Pitești, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1971 at local club, Argeș where he worked with coach Leonte Ianovschi. He made his Divizia A debut on 9 November 1974 in a 1–1 with FCM Reșița when he was sent on the field at half-time. In the 1978–79 UEFA Cup edition he helped the team eliminate Panathinaikos in the first round with a 5–1 aggregate victory. In the following one they met Valencia led by Mario Kempes, earning a 2–1 win in the first leg, however they lost the second one with 5–2, thus the campaign ending. In the same season he helped Argeș win the title, being used by coach Florin Halagian in 30 games in which he scored one goal. In the following season they passed AEK Athens in the first round of the 1979–80 European Cup, the team being eliminated in the following one by title holders and eventual winners, Nottingham Forest against whom Bărbulescu scored once. In 1982 he went to play for Olt Scornicești where he worked once again with Halagian. After one year and a half he went to play for Petrolul Ploiești.
In 1984 he went at Steaua București, reuniting for a while with Halagian, helping the club win The Double in his first season as Halagian and Emerich Jenei used him in 30 league matches but did not play in the 2–1 victory from the Cupa României final over Universitatea Craiova. In the following season, he won the league title, scoring two goals in the 33 appearances given to him by Jenei who also used him in all the nine games from the historical European Cup campaign in which Bărbulescu scored a goal from 25 meters against Budapest Honvéd, then playing all the minutes, including in extra time in the eventual 2–0 victory after the penalty shoot-out from the final against Barcelona. After goalkeeper Helmut Duckadam defended the last penalty, Bărbulescu immediately went and picked up the trophy and kissed it, being fined with 20.000$ by UEFA, eventually Steaua's president Ion Alecsandrescu talked to Valentin Ceaușescu and Yiorgos Vardinogiannis who managed to help him get rid of the fine. He started the 1986–87 season by playing all the minutes in the 1–0 win over Dynamo Kyiv from the European Super Cup and in the loss from the Intercontinental Cup with the same score in front of River Plate, by the end of it helping Steaua win another Double, coaches Jenei and Anghel Iordănescu giving him 14 league appearances in which he scored once, also appearing the full 90 minutes in the 1–0 victory from the Cupa României final over Dinamo București. As in the game from the 1986 European Cup final with Barcelona he crashed into a billboard inscribed with the name Canon after a shoulder-to-shoulder duel with Lobo Carrasco, at the game with River Plate from Tokyo, the representatives of the Canon company, who liked that incident very much, gave Bărbulescu a Canon camera, the latest model.
In 1987 he made a comeback to Petrolul Ploiești but after half of year he went for a second spell at Argeș Pitești where on 19 March 1988 he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 1–0 home loss in front of Universitatea Craiova, having a total of 357 matches with 22 goals scored in the competition, also playing a total of 23 games with three goals in European competitions. Bărbulescu ended his career in 1991, after playing in the Romanian lower leagues for Dacia Pitești and Callatis Mangalia, helping the latter promote from the third league to the second.

## International career

Ilie Bărbulescu played five games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 13 May 1979 under coach Florin Halagian in a 1–1 with Cyprus at the Euro 1980 qualifiers. He also played in a 3–1 win over Turkey at the 1986 World Cup qualifiers which took place on the İzmir Atatürk Stadium, afterwards he made his last appearance for the national team on 4 March 1987 in a game against the same team which ended with the same score, played on the Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium.

## Personal life

Ilie Bărbulescu was awarded the Honorary Citizen of Pitești title.
On 25 March 2008 he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" — (The Order "The Sportive Merit") class II for his part in winning the 1986 European Cup final.

## Death

Aged 62, Bărbulescu was found on 1 February 2020 dead by his wife in his home from Pitești after suffering a heart attack in his sleep. Around 600 people participated at his funeral held in his native Pitești.

## Honours

Argeș Pitești
* Divizia A: 1978–79
Steaua București
* Divizia A: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87
* Cupa României: 1984–85, 1986–87
* European Cup: 1985–86
* European Supercup: 1986
* Intercontinental Cup runner-up: 1986
Callatis Mangalia
* Divizia C: 1989–90