FC Steaua București in European football League semi-final against Benfica (1987–88) and one more Champions League final in 1989, which was lost 4–0 in to the Milan side of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. During these last years of the Communist regime in Romania, dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu's son Valentin was involved in the life of the team. Even though a controversial character, Valentin Ceaușescu admitted in a recent interview he had done nothing else than to protect his favourite team from Dinamo București's sphere of influence, ensured by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Though contested by some, their five-year winning streak in the
Nicolae Ceaușescu Augusto Pinochet's coup. Nicolae Ceaușescu was a close ally and personal friend of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaïre. Relations were in fact not just state-to-state, but party-to-party between their respective political machineries, the MPR and the PCR. Many believe that Ceaușescu's death played a role in influencing Mobutu to "democratise" Zaïre in 1990. Ceaușescu reduced the size of the Romanian Army by 15%, for which he organised a mock referendum. In line with his policy of keeping a facade of "popular democracy" he also ordered large rallies for peace to be held. In August 1976, Nicolae Ceaușescu was the