Alexandru "Sandu" Neagu (19 July 1948 – 17 April 2010) was a Romanian footballer who played as a striker.

Club career

Alexandru Neagu, nicknamed Cappellini from Giulești by journalist Ioan Chirilă was born on 19 July 1948 in the Rahova neighborhood from Bucharest, but grew up in the Giulești neighborhood. He started playing football for the junior squads of Giulești based club, Rapid București, this being the team for which he would play all of his career, making his Divizia A debut under coach Valentin Stănescu on 31 March 1966 in a 1–0 away loss against Petrolul Ploiești and in the next season he won the competition, Stănescu using him in only eight games in which he scored one goal, as the first options for the offence were Ion Ionescu and Emil Dumitriu. Neagu also won two Cupa României, being used all the minutes by coach Bazil Marian in the 1972 final in which he scored the second goal of the 2–0 victory against Jiul Petroșani, also being used the whole game by coach Ion Motroc in the 2–1 over Universitatea Craiova from the 1975 final. He took part in Rapid's 1971–72 UEFA Cup campaign, playing all six games, as the team reached the eight-finals, eliminating Napoli and Legia Warsaw against whom he scored a double, being eliminated by the team who would eventually win the competition, Tottenham, also taking part in the 1972–73 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, playing all six games, helping the team reach the quarter-finals, eliminating Landskrona BoIS and Rapid Wien against whom he scored a goal, being eliminated by Leeds United who reached the final. At the end of the 1974–75 Divizia A season, the club relegated to Divizia B, but Neagu stayed with the club, scoring 17 goals in 32 matches and helping it promote back to the first division after one year. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 30 June 1977 in a 2–1 away loss against FC Constanța, having a total of 254 games played with 93 goals in the competition, also having a total of 19 matches in which he scored five goals in European competitions (including four games and two goals in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup).

International career

Alexandru Neagu played 15 games and scored four goals for Romania, all under the guidance of Angelo Niculescu, making his debut on 9 February 1970 in a friendly which ended 1–1 against Peru. In his second international cap, a 1–1 with West Germany, he scored his first international goal. At the 1970 World Cup final tournament, Neagu was used by Niculescu in all the three group games as Romania did not advance to the next stage, scoring a goal and obtaining a penalty from which Florea Dumitrache scored the victory goal in the 2–1 against Czechoslovakia. He played six matches at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, managing to reach the quarter-finals where he scored two goals but Romania was defeated by Hungary, who advanced to the final tournament. Neagu's last game played for the national team took place on 20 September 1972 at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers in a 1–1 with Finland.

International goals

Personal life

His son, Roberto was also a footballer who played briefly for Academica Clinceni in the Romanian first league.

Death

Alexandru Neagu died on 17 April 2010 at age 61, after slipping and falling on the ground on the Giulești stadium while he was watching a training session of Rapid and was sent to the hospital where he died, also because he was ill of cirrhosis.

Honours

Rapid București