Bărbulescu, nicknamed "Balamuc" (Madhouse), was born on 24 June 1957 inPitești, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1971 at local clubArgeș where he worked with coach Leonte Ianovschi.[1][2] He made hisDivizia A debut on 9 November 1974 under coachFlorin Halagian in a 1–1 draw againstFCM Reșița.[1][2][3] In the1978–79 UEFA Cup he helped Argeș eliminatePanathinaikos in the first round with a 5–1 aggregate victory.[1][4] In the following one they metValencia led byMario Kempes, earning a 2–1 win in the first leg, but they lost the second one with 5–2, thus the campaign ended.[1][4][5] In thesame season he helped Argeș win the title, being used by coach Halagian in 30 games in which he scored one goal.[1][6] In the following season they defeatedAEK Athens in the first round of the1979–80 European Cup, the team being eliminated in the following one by title holders and eventual winners,Nottingham Forest against whom Bărbulescu scored once.[1][7] In 1982 he went to play forOlt Scornicești where he worked once again with Halagian.[1][2][8] After one year and a half he went to play forPetrolul Ploiești.[1][2]
In 1984, Bărbulescu joinedSteaua București, reuniting for a while with Halagian, helping the club winThe Double in hisfirst season as Halagian andEmerich Jenei used him in 30 league matches but did not play in the 2–1 victory in theCupa României final overUniversitatea Craiova.[1][2][6][8][9] In thefollowing season, he won the league title, scoring two goals in the 33 appearances given to him by Jenei.[1][2][6][10] The coach also used him in all nine games in the historicalEuropean Cup campaign, in which Bărbulescu scored a goal from 25 meters againstBudapest Honvéd.[1][2][10][11] He then played the entire match, includingextra time, in the eventual 2–0 victory after the penalty shoot-out in thefinal againstBarcelona.[1][2][10][11][12] After goalkeeperHelmut Duckadam defended the last penalty, Bărbulescu immediately went and picked up the trophy and kissed it, receiving a$20,000 fine fromUEFA.[13] Eventually, Steaua's president,Ion Alecsandrescu spoke toValentin Ceaușescu andYiorgos Vardinogiannis, who helped him get rid of the fine.[13] He started the1986–87 season by playing all the minutes in the 1–0 win overDynamo Kyiv in theEuropean Super Cup and in the loss in theIntercontinental Cup with the same score againstRiver Plate.[1][14] At the match against River Plate inTokyo, representatives of theCanon company gave Bărbulescu their latest Canon camera, a gesture stemming from an incident during the 1986 European Cup final against Barcelona.[10] In that match, he famously crashed into a Canon-inscribed billboard after a shoulder-to-shoulder duel withLobo Carrasco, an incident the company found particularly memorable.[10] He finished the season by winning another Double with Steaua, as coaches Jenei andAnghel Iordănescu gave him 14 league appearances in which he scored once, also appearing for the full 90 minutes in the 1–0 victory in theCupa României final overDinamo București.[1][6][15]
In 1987, Bărbulescu made a comeback to Petrolul Ploiești, but after half a year he went for a second spell at Argeș Pitești where on 19 March 1988 he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 1–0 home loss to Universitatea Craiova.[1][2][16] He accumulated a total of 357 matches and 22 goals scored in the Romanian top-league, also totaling 23 games with three goals in European competitions.[1][2] Bărbulescu ended his career in 1991, after playing in the Romanian lower leagues forDacia Pitești andCallatis Mangalia, helping the latter promote from thethird league to thesecond.[1][2][17]
Aged 62, Bărbulescu was found dead by his wife in their home in Pitești on 1 February 2020, after suffering a heart attack in his sleep.[24] Around 600 people participated at his funeral, held in his native Pitești.[25]
^ab"Ilie Bărbulescu – răpus de infarct" [Ilie Bărbulescu – died of a heart attack] (in Romanian). Ziarulargesul.ro. 2 February 2020. Retrieved31 August 2024.
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