Germans will Stutt-er against Petrescu

Dan Petrescu is hoping to heap yet more Euro heartache on Stuttgart when his Unirea Urziceni side face the Germans in the Champions League tonight.

Former Chelsea ace Petrescu was part of the Stamford Bridge side that defeated Stuttgart 1-0 in Stockholm way back in 1998 – with another old Blues favourite Gianfranco Zola netting a second-half winner.

Petrescu will be hoping to haunt Stuttgart once again when he brings his Romanian champions to the Mercedes-Benz Arena for their final Group G game.

The 41-year-old has a fine European pedigree.

Prior to his 1998 success, he claimed a European Cup runners’ up medal in 1989 when his Steaua Bucharest side was thumped 4-0 by a Dutch-inspired AC Milan at the Nou Camp.

Two goals each from Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten denied the Romanians a second title in four years.

The former Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday ace has hung up his boots and is now managing back in his home country – and he is on the verge of creating a little piece of history with Unirea Urziceni.

A draw away to Stuttgart tonight and the Romanian minnows – who won their first league title only last season – will be through to the knock-out stages in Europe’s biggest competition.

It would be a remarkable achievement for the club and it would mark out Petrescu as a top managerial prospect.

Who’d bet against him returning to Stamford Bridge one day to take over the hotseat?

Unirea sprung to prominence when, after a poor opening to their group campaign (a defeat to Seville and draw against Stuttgart) they hammered Rangers 4-1 at Ibrox. Subsequently they drew at home to Rangers and beat Seville.

Tonight they face a struggling Stuttgart side that is adapting to the introduction of a new manager – former Spurs boss Christian Gross. He replaced Markus Babbel last weekend.

Unirea need the draw and at 11/4 I’ll be backing them to get the result they need to progress.

Categories: Soccer