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Marius Mihai Lăcătuş (born 5 April 1964 in Braşov) is a Romanian retired football player and currently head coach at FC Vaslui.

Club career

He played as a deep lying striker or inside forward for Steaua Bucureşti most of his career, being the team's captain between 1994 and 1999. He also played for AC Fiorentina of Italy and Real Oviedo of Spain. Since 21.10.08, he was the team coach of Steaua Bucureşti, the team that made him who he is. However, after a home game against Lyon for the 2008-2009 UEFA Champions League group stage ,which his team lost with a disappointing 5-3, he resigned from the position of Steaua's manager, as he stated that that defeat was his fault.

Lăcătuş was an iconic player for Steaua Bucureşti's supporters. Even now, seven years after leaving the club as a player, the supporters shout his name at each game. The supporters loved him for his spectacular way of playing football, as well as for his commitment during the games. He was nicknamed Fiara (The Beast).

He was the first player to score in the penalty shoot-out of the 1986 European Cup final against FC Barcelona, won by Steaua Bucureşti. After 1990 World Cup in Italy, where he scored two goals against USSR, Lăcătuş was signed by the Italian team ACF Fiorentina and then moved to Real Oviedo in Spain. In 1994 he returned to Steaua Bucureşti and played for the team until 1999, when he finally signed for FC Naţional Bucureşti, where he played only for half a season before retiring. However, in October 2006 he decided to enroll himself as part of UT Arad team were he was also coach until 2007 before he joined Steaua Bucureşti.

His sister is a renowned piano cafe concert player in Romania.

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 of 1986 European Cup Final.

Lăcătuş played a total of 414 games in the Romanian Divizia A (now Liga I), scoring 103 goals; 21 games in the Italian Serie A where he scored three times and also 51 games in the Spanish La Liga, scoring 7 goals. He also made appearances 72 games in the European Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup, scoring 17 goals.

As a player he won the Romanian football championship ten times and the Romanian Cup seven times, as well as the European Cup in 1986 and the European Supercup in 1987, all with Steaua Bucureşti.

He is all time top scorer for Steaua with 17 goals in European Competitions.

International

Lăcătuş was capped 84 times, scoring 13 goals for the Romanian national team, and played for his country in the 1990 World Cup, Euro 1996 and 1998 World Cup. He scored the 700th goal for the national team of Romania.

International Goals

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	21 November 1984	Bloomfield Stadium, Jaffa, Israel	Israel	1–1	1–1	Friendly
2	30 January 1985	Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal	Portugal	1–2	3–2	Friendly
3	30 January 1985	Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal	Portugal	2–2	3–2	Friendly
4	10 September 1986	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Austria	2–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 1988 Qualifying
5	26 May 1990	Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Belgium	2–2	2–2	Friendly
6	9 June 1990	Stadio San Nicola, Bari, Italy	Soviet Union	1–0	2–0	World Cup 1990 Group B
7	9 June 1990	Stadio San Nicola, Bari, Italy	Soviet Union	2–0	2–0	World Cup 1990 Group B
8	29 August 1990	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, USSR	Soviet Union	1–0	2–1	Friendly
9	6 May 1992	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Faroe Islands	3–0	7–0	FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
10	14 December 1994	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel	Israel	1–0	1–1	UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
11	7 June 1995	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Israel	1–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
12	11 October 1995	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	France	1–2	1–3	UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
13	24 April 1996	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Georgia	4–0	5–0	Friendly

Honours

Steaua Bucureşti

Romanian football portal

• Liga I: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 (Record)
  • Romanian Cup: 1985, 1987, 1989, 1996, 1997, 1999
  • Romanian Super Cup: 1994, 1995, 1998
  • European Cup: 1986
  • European Super Cup: 1986

• Lăcătuş is the Romanian football player who won the most domestic awards.

References

External links

• (English) Marius Lăcătuş (Statistics as player)
• (Romanian) Marius Lăcătuş (Statistics as coach)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Ilie Dumitrescu	Steaua captain 1994–1999	Succeeded by Miodrag Belodedici
Preceded by Septimiu Câmpeanu	Steaua Top Scorer 1983–1984	Succeeded by Victor Piţurcă
Preceded by Massimo Pedrazzini	Steaua Manager 2007–2008	Succeeded by Dorinel Munteanu
Preceded by Dorinel Munteanu	Steaua Manager 2009	Succeeded by Cristiano Bergodi

Romania squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Lung • 2 Rednic • 3 Klein • 4 Andone • 5 Rotariu • 6 G. Popescu • 7 Lăcătuş • 8 Sabău • 9 Cămătaru • 10 Hagi • 11 Lupu • 12 Stelea • 13 A. Popescu • 14 Răducioiu • 15 Mateuţ • 16 Timofte • 17 Dumitrescu • 18 Balint • 19 Săndoi • 20 Muzsnay • 21 Lupescu • 22 Liliac • Coach: Jenei

Romania squad – UEFA Euro 1996 1 Stelea • 2 Petrescu • 3 Prodan • 4 Belodedici • 5 Lupescu • 6 Popescu • 7 Lăcătuş • 8 Sabău • 9 Răducioiu • 10 Hagi • 11 Munteanu • 12 Prunea • 13 Selymes • 14 Gâlcă • 15 Doboş • 16 Mihali • 17 Filipescu • 18 Stîngă • 19 Ilie • 20 Moldovan • 21 Vlădoiu • 22 Tene • Coach: Iordănescu

Romania squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Stângaciu • 2 Petrescu • 3 Dulca • 4 Doboş • 5 Gâlcă • 6 Gheorghe Popescu • 7 Lăcătuş • 8 Munteanu • 9 Moldovan • 10 Hagi • 11 Ilie • 12 Stelea • 13 Ciobotariu • 14 Niculescu • 15 Marinescu • 16 Gabriel Popescu • 17 Dumitrescu • 18 Filipescu • 19 Stîngă • 20 Selymes • 21 Craioveanu • 22 Prunea • Coach: Iordănescu