Player Profile - Michel Platini

Discussion in 'France' started by Gregoriak, Aug 15, 2005.

  1. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    MICHEL PLATINI


    Born: 21 June 1955 in Joeuf (Département Meurthe-et-Moselle).

    Nickname: Platoche, La Platine.

    Position: withdrawn inside forward, midfield.

    Caps:
    France 72 (1976-1987) / 41 goals

    League Games:
    France 253 (1972-1982) / 139 goals
    Italy 147 (1982-1987) / 68 goals

    European Cup Games:
    51 (1979-1987) / 26 goals

    International Club Cup Games:
    European Champions Cup 30 (1981-1987) / 17 goals
    European Cup Winners’ Cup 6 (1983-1984) / 0 goals
    UEFA Cup 14 (1979-1981) / 9 goals
    European Super-Cup 1 (1985) / 0 goals
    Intercontinental Cup 1 (1985) / 1 goal

    Domestic Cup Games:
    ‘Coupe de France’ 28 (1972-1982) / 43 goals
    ‘Coppa Italia’ 39 (1982-1987) / 16 goals

    European Footballer of the Year: 1976 (5th), 1977 (3rd), 1978 (21st), 1979 (5th), 1980 (3rd), 1981 (4th), 1982 (9th), 1983 (winner), 1984 (winner), 1985 (winner), 1986 (11th)

    French Footballer of the Year: 1976, 1977

    Trophies & Tournaments:
    World Cup participant: 1978, 1982 (4th), 1986 (3rd)
    European Championship: 1984 (winner)
    European Champions Cup-Winner: 1985
    European Champions Cup finalist: 1983
    European Cup Winners Cup: 1984
    UEFA-Cup Finalist: never
    World Club Cup-Winner: never
    French Champion: 1981
    French runner-up: 1982
    French Cup winner: 1978
    French Cup finalist: 1981, 1982
    Italian Champion: 1984, 1986
    Italian runner-up: 1983, 1987
    Italian Cup winner: 1983
    Italian Cup runner-up: never

    Top League Goal Scorer: 1983, 1984, 1985.


    Michel Platini was born into a family of Italian descent in Joeuf. His grandfather left Piemonte after the end of WWI to work as a bricklayer in Lothringen. Michel Platini started to play for his hometown club AS Jovicienne Joeuf as a little boy, he was pretty small and not too athletical, but already very gifted at the ball. At the age of 17, the French first division side FC Metz were interested in Platini, but he didn’t pass the medical examination due to his lung volume being too small. Thus Platini took the chance to play for AS Nancy, who also signed Michel’s father Aldo as a youth coach. Platini managed his breakthrough at Nancy in the following season, but he couldn`t save his team from relegation in 1974. The 19-year-old Platini soon shook the disappointment and took advantage of the new situation by becoming the most important player in his team, scoring 17 goals as a midfielder during his year in the French second division, assuring immediate promotion for Nancy in the summer of 1975. Nancy managed to reach the 7th and 4th places in the next two seasons, mostly due to Platini’s goal scoring abilities, and his supreme playmaking skills. Many of his goals came from freekicks, something Platini had practiced relentlessly to a level that it became an art in itself. Some of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, Dino Zoff, Peter Shilton or Luis Arconada, were all helpless facing Platini freekicks. In March 1976, Platini debuted in the French national team in style, putting a freekick past the great Czech keeper Ivo Viktor.

    In 1978, Nancy won the ‘Coupe de France’ in a 1-0 victory over OGC Nice with Platini scoring the winning goal (he had also become the captain of his side by this time). Platini later commented that his years at Nancy were the most carefree he ever enjoyed while playing professional football, due to lack of big tactical restrictions and the media coverage being less focused on him at that time. But in the long run, it became apparent that a mid-table team like Nancy could not keep a player as talented as Platini. By 1977, Platini was the acknowledged new star of French football, ending up in the top 3 of the 1977 “Golden Ball” award (he made his debut in 1976 at position 5). Although Platini proved to be the star in a rising new French national team, the 1978 World Cup became quite a disappointment to French football enthusiasts and players as well, as the Equipe Tricolore did not manage to advance to the second group stage out of a difficult group. This was the first World Cup France qualified for in 12 years, thus the hopes had been high that this new young team could produce some relevant results, but hosts Argentina and Italy proved to be too tough a challenge. After the World Cup, Platini played one last injury-plagued season for Nancy (he missed almost half the season due to an ankle fracture). At that time, the biggest club in France was AS St. Etienne. “Les Verts” hoped that adding Platini to their ageing team would provide an upswing, but despite winning the French championship in 1981 as well as finishing runners-up in 1982, Platini wasn’t satisfied during his three-year-spell with St. Etienne. There was trouble with the tyrannic club president Roger Rocher who was responsible for financial irregularities which later brought a sentence upon him and players of the club were also involved. Platini was lucky that he only had to pay a monetary penalty.

    Although the new decade started with another disappointment for the Equipe Tricolore by not qualifying for the 1980 European Championships, the 1980s were to become the most successful and thrilling decade in the history of French football up to that time. France managed to qualify for the 1982 World Cup held in Spain, and it was at this tournament that the Equipe Tricolore finally fulfilled the expectations of the French public. Platini proved to be the leader of a side that many consider one of the most gifted ever to have played in a World Cup. Under Platini’s guidance, the team played brilliant and skilful attacking football, aided by manager Hidalgo’s idea to play with a midfield consisting of three outright attack-minded technicians, with Alain Giresse on the right, Bernard Genghini on the left and Platini at the centre. Jean Tigana completed this extra-ordinay combination, playing a more defensive role. Many people thought of France as being fit to reach the final this time, leading against a powerful West German side in a classic semi final thriller 3-1 in extra time. But the resilient West Germans managed to equalize before the end of the game and possessed the better nerves in the penalty shoot-out, which they won 5-4. Platini converted two penalties in this match, one in normal time and one in the shoot-out, but Six and Bossis missed theirs, which was fatal. But because German goalkeeper Schumacher committed an outrageous foul against Battiston in the 58th minute (without being penalized by the referee), the French media was outraged the next day and considered the French as the moralic winners despite the defeat in the shoot-out.

    Two years later, the French didn’t have to qualify for the European Championships, which were held in France. The Equipe managed to win this Championship in style, exhibiting an inspiring, elegant, skilful and technically advanced offensive style of football, which earned them the nickname of being “the Brazilians of Europe”. This was the greatest triumph in the history of French football up to that date, and Michel Platini was the one player who overshadowed all the others. He was the mind and soul of his team, scoring nine of the 14 French goals, which earned him the top goalscorer’s crown. Platini also demonstrated an amount of uncharacteristic willpower in leading his team which contributed to him winning the “Golden Ball” for a second time in a row. He received 128 votes that year, which was the highest number ever witnessed in any Golden Ball winning poll since 1956. This period, lasting from 1982 to 1985, was definitely the pinnacle of Platini’s career and many considered him the best footballer in the world at that time (only rivalled by Argentina’s Maradona and Brazil’s Zico).

    In 1982 he had joined Juventus Torino and immediately became Serie A’s top scorer in his first season in Italy. Despite this personal triumph, his first season at Juve proved to be somewhat disappointing, as the club only finished runner-up behind Roma and also lost the European Champions Cup final against an unfancied Hamburg side. Winning the Coppa Italia that season was only a small compensation for a team that alongside Platini fielded more than half of the 1982 World Cup winning team (Zoff, Gentile, Cabrini, Scirea, Rossi, Tardelli) plus Polish superstar Boniek. The next year would become a lot more successful for the Juve team, who went on to win the Scudetto and the European Cup Winners’ Cup. The 1984-85 season would both see the greatest Juve triumph as well as the saddest event in Juve’s long history. While struggling to defend their title in Serie A, the team concentrated on finally winning the most sought-after trophy in all of European club football, the Champions Cup. On their way to the final Juventus eliminated Tampere, Grashoppers, Sparta Prague and Girondins Bordeaux, meeting Liverpool in the final which was held at Brussel’s Heysel stadium. Twice before had Juventus reached the final of this prestigious Cup, losing to Ajax in 1973 and ten years later to Hamburg. This time Juve won the damn thing, but the price was too high: 39 Juve fans died in tumults caused by Liverpool supporters. Platini converted the decisive penalty, but the match had only been carried out to prevent further fatal tumults, thus the game proceeded in a ghostly atmosphere with everyone knowing that they were playing in a cemetery and not in a football stadium.

    Only half a year later Platini could feel proper joy, as he became the first and up to now only player ever to win the “European Player of the Year” award three times in a row. At the age of 30, Platini had reached the absolute pinnacle of his career. He also was the top goal scorer in Serie A for a third year in a row, this had only been accomplished once 30 years prior by legendary Swedish centre forward Gunnar Nordahl, for Platini this feat was even more impressive as he was only a midfielder. In 1986, Platini won his second and last Scudetto while playing in Italy and it seemed as if his career was coming to an end quite abruptly, as he only managed to score two goals in the 1986-87 season, a severe disappointment for him and his fans. Nonetheless, Juve still finished in the runner-up situation. The 1986 World Cup would be the last hurrah of the glorious Platini generation. Troubled by a harmstring injury, Platini was nowhere near his best form when he and his teammates arrived in Mexico. While the French performances in the group stage weren’t convincing, they got their act together in the second round by eliminating World Champions Italy (with Platini scoring a goal), but the best was yet to come: in a classic quarterfinal, the European Brazilians were to meet the real Brazilians, and the game exceeded all expections, producing one of the best World Cup games in history. Once again Platini scored France’s goal while both teams demonstrated in style why football was called the “Beautiful Game”. After winning the penalty shoot-out, the French again met their semi final partners of the previous World Cup, West Germany. Platini appeared to be tired all through the match and the French seemed out of tune, unable to repeat the magic of their game against Brazil, losing 0-2 deservedly to a West German side that generated its best performance throughout the tournament. The role Platini played in the French team at that point was so dominating and exceptional, that his teammates couldn’t perform very well without Platini playing very well.

    In April 1987, Platini declared his resignation from professional football. Although he didn’t intend to become a manager, he couldn’t refuse taking over the job of managing the French national team in November 1988, who were in desperate need of an upswing, as it went all downhill for them since the 1986 World Cup. Platini worked together with Gerard Houllier, who was responsible for the training on the pitch, while Platini made the decisions concerning the squad and the tactics. But his time managing the Equipe Tricolore didn’t produce the results the public expected. After failing to qualify for the 1990 World Cup and exiting the 1992 European Championships after the group phase, Platini called it quits, but soon took an active part in the Committee that would organize the 1998 World Cup held in France. The 1998 World Cup winning French team had three players that started their international careers while Platini was manager (Blanc, Deschamps, Petit) and some of the demands Platini introduced while he was in charge of the team (more aggressiveness and better physical condition) did finally pay off in 1998. Thus Platini’s name will forever be associated with two of France’s three golden football eras (1950s, 80s, late-90s).


    League Statistics per Season

    Season - Club - Games – Goals – [Caps / Goals]

    1972/73 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............33 / 04
    1973/74 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............33 / 00
    1974/75 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............28 / 04
    1975/76 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............33 / 02 [ 2 / 1 ]
    1976/77 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............34 / 06 [ 8 / 4 ]
    1977/78 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............33 / 03 [ 8 / 5 ]
    1978/79 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............34 / 06 [ 2 / 0 ]
    1979/80 AS de Saint-Etienne..............34 / 06 [ 5 / 4 ]
    1980/81 AS de Saint-Etienne..............34 / 04 [ 4 / 3 ]
    1981/82 AS de Saint-Etienne..............33 / 01 [12 / 5 ]
    1982/83 Juventus Torino...................34 / 05 [ 4 / 1 ]
    1983/84 Juventus Torino...................33 / 03 [ 9 / 12]
    1984/85 Juventus Torino...................21 / 05 [ 5 / 2 ]
    1985/86 Juventus Torino...................33 / 10 [11 / 4 ]
    1986/87 Juventus Torino...................18 / 01 [ 3 / 0 ]

    International Club Games

    1979/80 AS de Saint-Etienne.....UEFA....07 / 05
    1980/81 AS de Saint-Etienne.....UEFA ...07 / 04
    1981/82 AS de Saint-Etienne.....EC I......02 / 00
    1982/83 Juventus Torino..........EC I......09 / 05
    1983/84 Juventus Torino..........EC II.....06 / 00
    1984/85 Juventus Torino..........EC I......09 / 07
    1985/86 Juventus Torino..........EC I......06 / 03
    1986/87 Juventus Torino..........EC I......04 / 02
     
  2. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
  3. sl7vk

    sl7vk Member

    Mar 3, 2005
    Salt Lake City
    Club:
    AS Nancy Lorraine
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Platini is a god.
     
  4. weaponx

    weaponx New Member

    Oct 11, 2004
    Grenoble
    Platini=dieu
     
  5. Dominique Rocheteau

    Dominique Rocheteau New Member

    Apr 30, 2005
    Canada
    Platini's free kick vs Netherlands in 1981 world cup qualifying in Paris

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Duck Manson

    Duck Manson Member+

    Feb 8, 2005
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    hmm the league goals here are all wrong.
     
  7. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    Damn it you're right. The stats were in fact Beckenbauer's (who I had done just before Platini). Mistakes like that come with the use of copy-and-paste.

    Here are his correct league stats:

    League Statistics per Season

    Season - Club - Games – Goals – [Caps / Goals]

    1972/73 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............04 / 02
    1973/74 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............21 / 02
    1974/75 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............II. Division
    1975/76 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............31 / 22 [ 2 / 1 ]
    1976/77 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............38 / 25 [ 8 / 4 ]
    1977/78 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............36 / 18 [ 8 / 5 ]
    1978/79 AS Nancy-Lorraine...............19 / 12 [ 2 / 0 ]
    1979/80 AS de Saint-Etienne..............33 / 16 [ 5 / 4 ]
    1980/81 AS de Saint-Etienne..............35 / 20 [ 4 / 3 ]
    1981/82 AS de Saint-Etienne..............36 / 22 [12 / 5 ]
    1982/83 Juventus Torino...................30 / 16 [ 4 / 1 ]
    1983/84 Juventus Torino...................28 / 20 [ 9 / 12]
    1984/85 Juventus Torino...................30 / 18 [ 5 / 2 ]
    1985/86 Juventus Torino...................30 / 12 [11 / 4 ]
    1986/87 Juventus Torino...................29 / 02 [ 3 / 0 ]

    International Club Games

    1979/80 AS de Saint-Etienne.....UEFA.....07 / 05
    1980/81 AS de Saint-Etienne.....UEFA.....07 / 04
    1981/82 AS de Saint-Etienne.....EC I......02 / 00
    1982/83 Juventus Torino..........EC I......09 / 05
    1983/84 Juventus Torino..........EC II.....06 / 00
    1984/85 Juventus Torino..........EC I......09 / 07
    1985/86 Juventus Torino..........EC I......06 / 03
    1986/87 Juventus Torino..........EC I......04 / 02
     

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