Whether playing football or entering politics, Platini is one of the most important and legendary figures in the history of football. As a player, he led France to win the European Championship for the first time, and then won the Champions Cup at Juventus, which can be said to be a great achievement. After retiring from the country, he also made a huge change in European football, but the football hero quickly fell from the peak to the altar, and his experience could not help but be lamented. FourFourTwo magazine published a long article about Platini, which was presented in two parts, starting with the first: a superstar who led France to make history.
It was Platini's dream to put the European Cup on an entire continent, but this summer he was torn apart by the COVID-19 pandemic, and his time spent blamed by millions of people was correspondingly extended. But that wasn't the case in previous years, and the former head of European football was once the best player on the planet, leading France to the 1984 European Championship, but falling from the top was also very surprising.
Platini never imagined that he would one day be yelled at by everyone, there was anger at his support for Qatar's bid to host the 2022 World Cup, and the 2 million Swiss francs that FIFA gave him, and eventually he was also "grounded" and now has to wear sunglasses and a hat if he wants to go out. "You know, I'm Michel Platini, and everybody knows me," the former French superstar said in an interview with The New York Times. "But the look in people's eyes is completely different from before." Imagining the accusatory gaze of passers-by, he chose to stay at home as much as possible and not go out.
For a person who rarely encounters an inability to get out of trouble, this shame must be difficult to understand.
As a player, he can be said to have had everything, but the situation he has to face now is doubly difficult. Pele once said Platini was the only Frenchman he was willing to be selected for any Brazilian national team.
Platini's father, Aldoichi, was an excellent amateur player and a long-time football supervisor in Nancy, teaching his son to play football from an early age. Once, while watching Di Stéfano's game in a friendly match, the young Platini marveled at a wonderful pass from the Golden Arrow and then asked his dad, "How did he know that man was there?" Aldo didn't reply right away, but told his son after a while, "Ah, because he had observed it before passing the ball." ”
At the age of 17, Platini's dream of becoming a professional player faced a huge test, he had a big problem during a medical examination in Metz, Platini, who was undergoing a breathing test, suddenly fainted, and the doctors at the time misdiagnosed him for heart failure.
What gave him a little comfort was that he eventually joined the echelon of professional clubs, but in Nancy, where he also regained his confidence. Platini Jr.'s first-team debut was against Nîmes on 3 May 1973, and in the following 1974–75 he scored 17 goals and Nancy managed to return to Ligue 1. For Platini, it took a lot of effort to make football feel like a simple sport. In the 1960s, when he was in school, he developed the habit of ending lunch early and then practicing football for half an hour, while in Nancy he spent several hours a day practicing free kicks, and the human wall was his friend - later Nancy and Paris goalkeeper Murter, plus some other substitutes to form the human wall.
Timing is everything to football, and by the end of the '70s, Platini was already a strong player, and Ligue 1 was also experiencing a renaissance. In 1976, Saint-Etienne reached the final of the Champions League against the then-hegemon Bayern Munich, and bastia, who finished runner-up in the UEFA Cup two years later, shocked Europe, probably even they themselves could not believe it, but it was a pity that Bastia lost to Eindhoven in the final. The most important thing for Platini is that since 1978, france has once again found the secret to reach the World Cup finals, and it should be noted that the Gallic rooster has been missing this highest level competition since 1966.
However, after the end of the group stage of the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Platini was injured by the future Beckham style, and the perpetrator was a visiting team fan from all over France. The French star could only respond with silence, but it was not a disaster, and In one game Platini seriously injured his ankle.
In the end, he had to leave Nancy in a strange and bittersweet way to join Saint-Etienne, where Although Platini won the Ligue 1 title, he never made a difference in Europe. Fortunately, at this time Juventus threw an olive branch at him, and the French certainly did not refuse. It was 1982 and Platini was 27 years old, a very important age for a lot of great players.
France continued to compete in the World Cup in Spain before he joined the Bianconeri, resulting in the Gallic Rooster losing 3-1 to England in their first match at Bilbao, a match in which they were scored by Brian Robson in the opening 27 seconds. But since then, France has regained their morale and played a good game, winning 4-1 against Kuwait and drawing 1-1 with Czechoslovakia as the second in the group. In the second stage of the group stage, France won Austria and Northern Ireland to reach the top four, while their semi-final opponents were the Federal Republic of Germany, and this match became an unforgettable classic at the World Cup, known as the Epic of Sevilla.
Litbalski opened the scoring for West Germany in the opening 17 minutes, platini equalised on a penalty nine minutes later, neither side made a difference in the game into extra time, and in the 92nd and 98th minutes France scored two more goals to take a 3-1 lead, which for most teams was tantamount to having won the game, but their opponent was the Federal Republic of Germany, which was known for its tenacity. In the 102nd minute, Rummenigge pulled a goal back, and six minutes later Fisher locked in a 3-3 draw, and the two sides entered a suffocating penalty shootout. In the first five rounds, each team lost one person, Andiali hit a steady shot in his fifth appearance, but in the sixth round, France was eventually eliminated.
In fact, the defeat of the Gallic Rooster in this game is largely related to the duty Dutch referee Charles Korver, shortly after the start of the second half, France replaced defender Battiston, and 7 minutes later he had a one-handed shot, Battiston stabbed the ball into the goal before german goalkeeper Schumacher, and the ball rubbed the goalpost out of bounds. Schumacher did not touch the ball, but did not stop his movements, he jumped up and raised his hands in the air, pounced on Battiston, punched the Frenchman in the face, hit the buttocks of Battiston, and touched the opponent's chin on the shoulder.
Battiston fell to the ground unconscious, "I thought he was dead. Platini recalled that the French team doctor once thought That Battistone had lost his pulse, and four minutes later, Battiston, who had taken oxygen, was carried out of the stadium on a stretcher. After examination, it was found that the French defender had 2 teeth broken, injured his cervical spine, broken even his ribs, and lost consciousness for half an hour. And this extremely bad foul referee Korver did not blow the foul but gave west Germany the ball. In addition, Germany's second goal was also fouled against Platini and Gilesser.
When Platini was asked 17 years later about his memories of that duel, he shrugged and said, "What can you do?" The former French team core once said: "After scoring in the intercontinental competition, I am the king." But after losing that game, I was an X-man, which is the truth? ”
Sevilla is arguably the sad place for the French team, Platini explains: "We once reached a tipping point where we could proudly say, 'Hey, we're so good.'" We didn't feel anything before that game, and after losing the semi-final we realized we were a good team and told ourselves that France had the strength to win the European Championship in 2 years. ”
Played in 1986 on French soil, Platini scored nine goals in five matches, including two headers, two free kicks, one penalty and four athletic goals. The French core of that year was as invincible as Cruyff in 1974 and Maradona in 1986.
It's not just his goals, his technical skills and the joy he brings to people through football, but he also uses his wits to lead the games that France has played. As the great Italian core Rivera put it: "Platini is the perfect combination of genius, wisdom and creativity." ”
France coach Hidalgo is an avid fan of attacking football, with four creative midfielders in his squad, Platini, Luis Fernandes, Tigana and Girese. Instead of building a team around Platini, as Juventus did, he persuaded the core of the team to fit into his tactics. From the opening match to the final, the hosts played several different positions such as center forward and forward.
The vast majority of world championships that Platini participated in were not in his best condition, the 82 World Cup had an injury in the groin, the 86 World Cup was a neurological problem, and only the Euro 84 was in 100% healthy state. He also successfully led the Gallic Rooster to the World Series for the first time in history, and he also won the Golden Globe for the second consecutive year.
In a 1987 interview with the famous writer Duras, Platini said that a player's entire career success may depend on the outcome of a game, provided that you are caught in the right camera at the right time and on the right occasion. No one can blame the Juventus star for his two hat-tricks at Euro 1984, the first coming from a 5-0 win over Belgium and the second a 3-2 win over Yugoslavia, either of which was enough to establish a career for a non-top star.
But the Kings were not satisfied with this, and the following season Platini had a bad start, only to start his days at Juventus from recuperation, he also almost left the old woman in despair, but finally won the Serie A Golden Boot that season, which was also his third consecutive year of this honor. The Frenchman scored 16 goals in 1982-83, 20 in 1983-84 and 18 in the injured season.
The star-studded Bianconeri have Roberto Bettega, Polish superstar Bonnek, World Cup strikers Paul Rossi, Sirea, Tardelli and Dino Zov, but Platini is one of the few players who can talk to club owner Agnelli on an equal footing.
Once he was caught smoking in the locker room by the head coach, Platini pointed to the midfielder, and giuseppe Frinot, who was notorious for his wide coverage, said, "You just have to worry about whether he starts smoking," with a joke to forcibly cover up his bad behavior.
Platini's most artistic goal was also scored on 22 August 1982 in the group stage of the Coppa Italia with Pescara. He lurked in front of him, stopping the opponent's ball on his chest, then he flicked it with the instep of his foot, the ball was high above all the defenders' heads, and then the Juve core accelerated to break through the opponent's defense and then single-handedly broke through.
Of course, another peak of his career was to lead Juve to the Champions League in 1985, and he also scored in the final with Liverpool, when Liverpool committed a foul outside the box but was blown a penalty by the referee, Andi Platini scored the only goal in the game, but that final was completely overshadowed by the shadow of the pre-match Heysel massacre, and the official also ordered that no excessive celebration should be made in the game.
To be honest, it was an extremely difficult final, and even today many people suspect that the players knew the truth of the tragedy before the game began. But Platini insisted they knew very little and there was no winner in this Champions League final, whether it was the eventual champions Juventus or Liverpool, who lost the game.
Platini was a great football artist and at the same time a man who hated failure. While in Nancy, he once threw his cards out of the train window to keep his teammates from playing cards, and his attitude impressed Juventus midfielder Camoranesi, "He's just a monster, very sensitive, a real king on the pitch." Even in the face of extremely unfavorable situations, he can give simple and clear solutions. ”
In 1987, Platini suffered a serious ankle injury, coupled with the shadow of the Heather massacre, the 32-year-old French superstar chose to retire. His greatness is indisputable, and Zidane was influenced by Platini in his own growth path. It is precisely because of this that what happened after this makes people so surprised and sad.
To be continued...
(Moon Inaka)