Romania’s Steaua Bucharest Rattled By Bomb Threat In Budapest

Two bomb squad officers arrived at the hotel where Steaua was lodged and announced that several rooms need to be evacuated so that inspections can be performed.

The rooms on the first floor of the building, where, among others, there were players Sorin Ghionea, Petre Marin, Romeo Surdu, Banel Nicolita şi Janos Szekely, were evacuated and searched using police dogs.

Over 50 agents descended on the scene and established a perimeter.

After some three hours of inspections, the players and officials could return to their hotel rooms.

Steaua Bucharest president Valeriu Argaseala said this action got him thinking. "This is the first time in my life and in the club’s existence when something like this happens. Maybe if this were happening somewhere else things would have been different, but they are happening before such a game. The duration of this action was very long, I can’t say it was a circus, but the manner in which things were approached got me thinking. I have notified the embassy, which arrived very quickly. I have notified the UEFA observer, because it’s the normal thing to do. This is an event in the club’s life and it took three hours. I don’t know what decision will be made (Thursday)... we did not ask for a postponement. We spoke to the observer before the procedures started, and we will inform him again after the completion of the control. He will notify UEFA and, depending on the circumstances of this control, a decision will be made," Argaseala said.

The Steaua official said the players are tired. "The players are tired, of course they are. Waking them up in the middle of the night and telling them to leave the room is hard, but we told them to abide by procedures, even though it was a selective procedure, involving Steaua. UEFA will now analyze if this action has an effect on the team and if we play (Thursday). I can’t comment on the situation and say it was premeditated. The ones who unfolded the action know very well why and how they proceeded. Other people were removed from the hotel as well. It is a coincidence that this happened before this game. We were controlled for one hour and a half, after which the entire hotel was evacuated," Argaseala said.

The Ujpest FC – Steaua Bucharest, the away game played by Steaua in the second preliminary round of the Europe League will take place Thursday, starting with 20.45 local time. In the game at home, Steaua defeated Ujpest 2-0.

 

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