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Gheorghe Hagi moved mountains

In 1996, the Maradona of the Carpathians was brought to Istanbul for a final dance at the disco...

Gheorghe Hagi moved mountains

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We’re all searching for something. Gheorghe Hagi is of Aromanian descent, an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans, and being a searcher is hardwired into his DNA. In 1932 his grandfather, an Aromanian shepherd also called Gheorghe, was forced to flee his home in Cyprus and set up a new life on the southeast coast of Romania. The young Hagi idolised his granddad and was fiercely proud of his roots; as he once noted, "ambition is the main quality of Aromanians."

Hagi was a prodigiously gifted footballer and nicknamed the Maradona of the Carpathians. Throughout his career, he felt there was a mountain of an obstacle in the way of his talent receiving the recognition it was due. When he was asked by World Soccer in 2001 why he thought he’d never won the Ballon d’Or, he bluntly replied: "Because I was born in Romania."

If some Western European journalists would never quite get him, in Romania, they immediately knew how good he was. He was in the national team at 18, and in 1987, allegedly at the behest of the country’s brutal dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, he was loaned from Sportul Studențesc to Steaua București in time for the UEFA Super Cup final. That payday loan paid off, as Hagi scored a free kick on his debut to settle the match against Dynamo Kyiv and win Steaua the trophy. The move soon became permanent, and Hagi led them to a European Cup final appearance two years later. When Ceaușescu’s regime collapsed later that year, the door swung open for Romania’s best footballers to take their talent elsewhere. Like his grandfather before him, Hagi was soon on the move across Europe.


Real Madrid went in big on this burgeoning talent, signing Hagi for £2 million in 1990. It was an eye-catching fee, but Hagi’s nickname—part homage, part albatross—wasn’t exactly far-fetched. Both Hagi and Diego were short, stocky, brooding figures with a doctorate-educated left foot. Within Hagi’s was an explosive power; like the natural swing that connects perfectly and sends a golf ball over 300 yards, he could locate the sweet spot on a football instinctively. At just 5’5”, he had a low centre of gravity which combined with his short, stocky legs to unleash a shooting prowess that was utterly lethal. It was all the more freakish for being launched from feet encased in size five boots.

In the marquee leagues of European football, he barely left a footprint. After two underwhelming years at the Bernabéu, he left for Brescia in Serie A, only to be relegated in his first season. From the unlikely springboard of an immediate promotion back out of Serie B, Hagi found a slither of international kudos. At the 1994 World Cup in the USA, he was outstanding for Romania, scoring three brilliant goals and orchestrating a cult, high-octane Romanian team that embarked on a memorable run to the quarterfinals. Hagi was named in the Team of the Tournament and would finish fourth in the Ballon d’Or voting that year, a career high. Straight after the tournament, Johan Cruyff decided to bring him to Barcelona.