Adrian Ilie
Ilie in 2018
Personal information
Full name Bucurel Adrian Ilie[1]
Date of birth (1974-04-20) 20 April 1974
Place of birth Craiova, Romania
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Left winger
Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1993 Electroputere Craiova 31 (12)
1993–1996 Steaua București 85 (28)
1996–1998 Galatasaray 30 (12)
1998–2002 Valencia 84 (29)
2002–2003 Deportivo Alavés 22 (6)
2003–2004 Beşiktaş 13 (6)
2004–2005 Zürich 23 (7)
Total 287 (100)
International career
1993–2005[2] Romania 55 (13)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Bucurel Adrian “The Cobra” Ilie (born 20 April 1974) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward.

He played for the Romania national team in one World Cup and two European Championships.

Club career

Ilie began his career with his local club Electroputere Craiova before transferring to Romania's biggest club Steaua Bucuresti in 1993. During his three years with Steaua, Ilie helped the club to three consecutive Romanian league titles and the 1995–96 Cupa României.

In 1996, Ilie was purchased by Turkish side Galatasaray for an amount of €2.35 million, where he won the Turkish championship in 1996–97. After an impressive season, he moved from Galatasaray to Valencia CF for a reported US$ 7 million, where he replaced in the squad the Brazilian star Romário and took over his no. 11 jersey. At Valencia he impressed from his debut, scoring twelve goals in 17 matches, and thus getting the nickname of "Cobra" from coach Claudio Ranieri, because he was as "lethal as a cobra".[3] At the Mestalla, Ilie made a remarkable attacking duo together with teammate Claudio López, helping Los Che to win the 1998–99 Copa del Rey. In 2000, under Héctor Cúper's command, Valencia reached the final of the UEFA Champions League, where Ilie appeared as a substitute for Gerardo in a 3–0 loss to Real Madrid CF. Two years later, Ilie was a member of Rafael Benítez's 2001–02 La Liga winning squad, scoring only two goals in 10 matches because of injuries.

In 2002, Ilie left Valencia to join Deportivo Alavés but the club was relegated to the Segunda División in his only season. He then returned to Turkey to play for Beşiktaş J.K. before transferring to Switzerland's FC Zürich a year later. In 2005, he signed with Belgian side Beerschot AC but never played with the club due to a severe ankle injury,[4] resulting in his retirement from football at the age of only 31.

However, in 2009, he decided to come back into professional football after some discussions with Russian club FC Terek Grozny but he had to quit after failing his medical tests.

International career

At the international level, Ilie won 55 caps for Romania, scoring 13 goals. He played at the 1996 European Football Championship, 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2000 European Football Championship.[5] At 1998 FIFA World Cup, he scored against Colombia one of the most spectacular goals of the tournament. In the period between 1997 and 2000, alongside teammate Gheorghe Hagi, he was Romania's national team leader, scoring important goals and impressing with his skills. In 1998, he won the title of Romania's footballer of the year.

Personal life

He is the older brother of fellow footballer Sabin Ilie.[6]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Supercup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Electroputere Craiova1991–92Divizia A10——10
1992–933012—103112
Total 3112103212
Steaua București1993–94Divizia A2330—40273
1994–95281110633514
1995–962412—723114
1996–97101—55156
Total 852710221010837
Galatasaray1996–971.Lig18610—196
1997–98126—751911
Total 301210753817
Valencia1997–98La Liga171231——2013
1998–99241040—523312
1999–002251010123368
2000–0110010—20130
2001–0210200—33135
Total 8329911022811538
Alavés2002–03La Liga22610—20256
Beşiktaş2003–04Süper Lig136—20156
Zürich2004–05Swiss Super League23744——2711
Career total 28799145305623360127

International

List of international goals scored by Adrian Ilie
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
114 August 1996Steaua Stadium, Bucharest, Romania Israel1–02–0Friendly
230 April 1997Steaua Stadium, Bucharest, Romania Republic of Ireland1–01–01998 FIFA World Cup qualification
33 June 1998Steaua Stadium, Bucharest, Romania Paraguay1–03–2Friendly
42–1
515 June 1998Stade de Gerland, Lyon, France Colombia1–01–01998 FIFA World Cup Group G
62 September 1998Steaua Stadium, Bucharest, Romania Liechtenstein3-07–0UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
74–0
85–0
95 June 1999Steaua Stadium, Bucharest, Romania, Hungary1–02–0UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
104 September 1999Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia Slovakia0–11–5UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
1116 August 2000Stadionul Cotroceni, Bucharest, Romania Poland1–01–1Friendly
126 June 2001Darius and Girėnas Stadium, Kaunas, Lithuania, Lithuania0–11–22002 FIFA World Cup qualification
135 September 2001Ferenc Puskás Stadium, Budapest, Hungary Hungary0–10–22002 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Steaua Bucharest[7]

Galatasaray[8]

Valencia[9]

Zürich[10]

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Bucurel Adrian Ilie". Turkish Football Federation. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Adrian Bucurel Ilie – International Appearances". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  3. ↑ "Adrian Ilie La 'Cobra' más letal del Valencia de Ranieri". discoveryfootball.com (in Spanish). 27 January 2015. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  4. ↑ De Cobra stuurt zijn kat Het Nieuwsblad. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Adrian Ilie Statistics FIFA. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  6. ↑ "Dinamo land Valencia striker Ilie". UEFA. 21 September 2001. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "Adrian Ilie" (in Romanian). SteauaFC.com. Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Ilie, Adrian". National-Football-Teams. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  9. ↑ "Adrian Ilie". BDFutbol. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "Switzerland 2004/05". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
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