The Cup. The same battle like in the championship – Dinamo vs Steaua, Dinamo prevailing 2-1.
Steaua lost twice this year, but look at this squad. Standing from left: Ducadam, Piturca, Marin, Tataran, Puskas, Pecu. First row: Stoica, Eduard, Anghelini, Laurentiu, Cimpeanu. Nobody was paying attention yet, but this is almost the squad becoming famous just a little bit ahead in time – the stars of the 70s were going away – Marin and Anghelini were almost all remains and going out – and some of the new blood – Belodedici, for instance – were already present, but not yet regulars. Steaua was gathering top talent as ever – Ducadam and Piturca already here, recruited from provincial clubs. Still in the shadow of Dinamo, though.
Splendid season – a double! Playing against Steaua was never easy, so Dinamo was not domineering, but they were clearly the best and seemingly unstoppable: champion three years in a row and two of these years they won a double. With Universitatea (Craiova) getting a bit old, Dinamo’s reign was going to be long – Steaua did not win a championship since 1978 and the Cup since 1979, so it was hard to imagine them bettering Dinamo any time soon. Well, current wisdom knows nothing of the future. As a trivia note: Dinamo had one of the best Romanian goalkeepers of this period, Moraru, a national team choice. But very young keeper was already in the squad and he will be better known abroad than Moraru – Florin Prunea. Just wait for the 1990s.