A strong start in Division A, in a superb autumn ’87: 2-1 over Universita Craiova and the epic 2-1 against Dinamo. Dinamo, the great “enemy” of Polist football, had one of the best club teams in Europe in those years and one of the best that Romania ever had. It was the high point of the Poli – Dinamo rivalry. In 1975, 1977 and 1982, Dinamo won the title at the end of championships in which they had lost in Timișoara.

On 8 November 1987, in the 11th round, Dinamo landed on the Bega as a great team. With Mircea Lucescu as coach and with a great team that in two and a half years would reach the semi-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup. In order to keep up with Stele, with whom they were fighting for the title, the red-and-whites were not allowed to make mistakes. They needed to win, otherwise they risked losing the championship even then, when there was still plenty of play left from the tour. (Back then, Steaua and Dinamo went head-to-head, with first place being decided by their direct results. In fact, the second half of the 1980s saw a savage battle between Steaua and Dinamo, a rivalry that signified the major political disagreements between the Army and the Securitate).

But Poli was in its heyday. A sunny, cold day. Set up by coach Ion V. Ionescu, refusing to concede the match (he took a vote among the players before the match!), fighting against incredibly biased refereeing (awarding a penalty and validating a goal – the ball would not have crossed the goal line – extremely controversial for the guests) and supported by 50,000 supporters, the students gave a lesson in life and football. C. Varga scored an incredible goal from a long range free kick (35 m, a little to the left side, towards the goal of Sala Olimpia, the ball hit I. Andone, who was in the wall, and went into the net).

It would be the only defeat for the “dogs” that season. (Poli even received a bonus from Steaua). And with those two points lost in Timisoara, Dinamo would have been champions. It was, after all, a prologue to the 1989 Revolution. In the end, Lucescu promised the Timisoren relegation. And legend has it that the relegation of the blue-and-whites would follow from that game…

Technical box:
Politehnica Timisoara – Dinamo Bucharest 2-1 (1-0)
Division A 1987/88, 8.11.1987, 2 p.m., Timișoara, 1 Mai stadium, 50,000 spectators.
Goals: Ilcu (28), C. Varga (84) – Ioan Varga (85). Penalty missed: Mateuț (77).
Referee: Gr. Macavei (Deva).
Politehnica: I. Almășan – Pascu, Crăciun, Oancea, C. Varga – C. Neagu, Oloșutean (38, Șunda), Ad. Manea – China (65, Ionuț), Ilcu, Bozeșan II. Coach: Ion V. Ionescu.
Dinamo: Moraru – Rednic, Al. Nicolae, I. Andone, Ioan Varga – D. Lupu (67, Damaschin I), I. Lupescu, M. Stoica (55, Orac), Mateuț – Mihăescu, Cămătaru. Coach: Mircea Lucescu.

Excerpt from the book “Politehnica Timișoara – Football and Handball”, by Octavian Stăncioiu and Viorel Jurcuț, published by Politehnica Publishing House, on 4 December 2021, on the occasion of the Centenary of the Politehnica Timișoara Sports Society.