Rednic hits new high with Dinamo

Mircea Rednic counts qualification for the UEFA Cup Round of 32 as the biggest achievement of his long association with FC Dinamo 1948 Bucuresti.

Great achievement
A 2-1 win at home against Bayer 04 Leverkusen last night ensured Dinamo would be playing European football in the spring for the first time in 17 years. Considering the inexperience of his squad and the level of competition in Group B, Rednic admitted he had not been banking on qualification. "Few of today's regulars are experienced - the majority are young or even very young and inexperienced," he said. "More than that, until the summer some of them were playing in the second division. Honestly speaking, considering that and how tough our group is, we did not expect to qualify.

'Strong character'
"The players were fantastic," he added. "They had to face several very difficult moments in the three group matches played so far and they overcame them. It is only in such circumstances that real, strong characters show themselves and all my players have strong character. I am proud of them." This will be Dinamo's fourth spring offensive in Europe. They reached the semi-finals of the 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup, the quarter-finals of the 1988/89 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the semi-finals of the same competition in 1989/90. Amazingly Rednic was involved in all of those campaigns as a player.

'Most important'
Having been named as Dinamo coach five months ago, Rednic believes this latest achievement is the most notable of his achievements with the club. "This year's qualification is the most important of all," he said. "Why? Because, as a player, I was only a member of a very strong team and I didn't make such a big contribution." With one game to play at group leaders Tottenham Hotspur FC, Dinamo could yet take top spot, guaranteeing them an opponent who finished third in one of the other sections, rather than a side that finished third in a UEFA Champions League group, in the 15 December draw for the Round of 32.

Winning ambitions
While Rednic said modestly that his side were "not yet ready for the UEFA Champions League group stage", he was adamant that they would be going for it in England on Matchday 5. "I want to win in London," he said. "Now, I would not be satisfied with second place. I want to be first in this group, not only because being second we might play against a very strong team eliminated from the UEFA Champions League, but also because, as a famous Romanian player [Cornel Dinu] once said: 'You only feel like a real football player after you have beaten an English team.'"