Platini Michel
Michel François Platini is a French former football player, manager and administrator. Nicknamed Le Roi (The King) for his ability and leadership, he is regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Platini won the Ballon d’Or three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and came sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. In recognition of his achievements, he was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1985 and became Officier in 1988. During his career, Platini played for the clubs Nancy, Saint-Étienne, and Juventus. Despite primarily serving as an advanced midfield playmaker, he was a prolific goalscorer; he won the Serie A capocannoniere (top scorer) award three consecutive times between 1983 and 1985, and was the top scorer of Juventus’s victorious 1984–85 European Cup campaign. Platini was a key player of the French national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was the top scorer and best player, and reached the semi-finals of the 1982 and 1986 World Cups. Together with the midfielders Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana, he formed the carré magique (magic square) of the French team in the 1980s. Platini was his country’s record goalscorer until 2007, and holds the record for most goals (9) scored in the European Championship despite only appearing in the victorious 1984 edition. Following his retirement as a player, Platini was the French national team coach for four years, and was the co-organizer of the 1998 World Cup in France. From 2007, he served as the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). He also held the positions of chairman of FIFA’s Technical and Development Committee and vice-president of the French Football Federation.
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In 1984-1985 season Juventus F.C. finished 6th in Serie A, however, won the European Cup for the first time in Heysel. However, the season was marked by the Heysel Stadium disaster in which 39 people died, mostly Juventus supporters. The 1985 European Cup final against Liverpool at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels should have been the crowning moment of Platini’s Juventus career, but was instead overshadowed by the Heysel Stadium disaster in which 39 people died, and 600 more were injured. It was decided to proceed with the match in order to avoid inciting any further trouble, and after both captains had appealed for calm, the match began just under an hour and a half beyond schedule, with riot police still engaged in a pitched battle with Juventus fans. Platini scored the only goal of the match from a penalty kick, which had been controversially awarded for a foul just outside the area on Zbigniew Boniek, after the Frenchman had met his run behind the defence towards goal with a long ball. In the days following the final, Platini was criticized in some quarters for his lack of restraint in celebrating Juventus’ win. In his own defence, Platini maintained that he had not been made fully aware of the scale of the disaster
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Michel Platini signed with Juventus in 1982. At Juventus, he inherited the number 10 shirt from the recently departed Liam Brady. In a team featuring numerous members of Italy’s victorious World Cup squad, Platini had a difficult introduction to Italian football. He was a target in the demanding Italian sports media, and even came close to leaving Italy in the winter of his first season. Platini and teammate Zbigniew Boniek successfully called for a change in tactics, and in the second half of the season Juventus saw an upturn in their fortunes. They reached the European Cup final, losing to Hamburger SV, but won the Italian Cup, the first of many club honours to follow for Platini in the coming seasons. He won the Serie A title with Juventus in 1984 and 1986, the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1984 (setting up Vignola’s opening goal in the Turin club’s 2–1 victory over Porto in the final of the competition), the 1984 European Super Cup, the European Cup in 1985 and the 1985 Intercontinental Cup. He finished top scorer in Serie A for three consecutive seasons (1982–83, 1983–84, and 1984–85), and won a hat-trick of European Footballer of the Year awards (1983 through 1985). He was also voted Player of the Year by World Soccer magazine in 1984 and 1985.
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This shirt was worn by Michel Platini during the 1984-1985 European Cup’s quarter-final game against Sparta Prague which took place in Turin on March 6th 1985. The shirt was swapped after the match with the Sparta Prague’s player Vlastimil Calta (in the above picture holding the shirt) who we got this shirt from. The shirt is well recognizable from game’s images because of two issues on it. The first issue is the “Ariston” sponsor which it was not embroidered really centered making the last letter “N” overtaking the black sponsor band’s edge and “touching” the white stripe as you can from the closeup picture of Platini wearing the shirt. The second issue is that on the back, the number 0 was sewn higher than number 1, as you can from the game’s footage below.
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During the season 2006-2007 there was the Juventus F.C. 109th anniversary. To celebrate the anniversary a Juventus F.C. former player’s parade was organized before a Serie A game at the Stadio Olimpico. All of the most popular team former players attended the parade and it was given to all of them a special Juventus’s shirt with a commemorative badge on sleeve representing the 109th anniversary and the name on the back. Only one shirt for each player was made. This shirt was given to Michel Platini and it was signed by many team former players that attended the parade. This shirt is a very particular shirt as it supposed to be the Champions League shirt for the season 2006/2007 since it has the black square on the back (typical for Champions League competition due Uefa rules). Nike prepared this style of shirt in advance and they couldn’t expect that due Calciopoli’s issue the team was not going to play the Champions League competition. So this style of shirt was prepared, but never used by the team.
“When I was a kid and played with my friends, I always chose to be Platini. I let my friends share the names of my other idols between themselves” Zinedine Zidane
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At Juventus, Platini inherited the number 10 shirt from the recently departed Liam Brady. In a team featuring numerous members of Italy’s victorious World Cup squad, Platini had a difficult introduction to Italian football. He was a target in the demanding Italian sports media, and even came close to leaving Italy in the winter of his first season. Platini and teammate Zbigniew Boniek successfully called for a change in tactics, and in the second half of the season Juventus saw an upturn in their fortunes. They reached the European Cup final, losing to Hamburger SV, but won the Italian Cup, the first of many club honours to follow for Platini in the coming seasons. He won the Serie A title with Juventus in 1984 and 1986, the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1984 (setting up Vignola’s opening goal in the Turin club’s 2–1 victory over Porto in the final of the competition), the 1984 European Super Cup, the European Cup in 1985 and the 1985 Intercontinental Cup. He finished top scorer in Serie A for three consecutive seasons (1982–83, 1983–84, and 1984–85), and won a hat-trick of European Footballer of the Year awards (1983 through 1985). He was also voted Player of the Year by World Soccer magazine in 1984 and 1985.
“I played for Nancy because it was my hometown club and the best in Lorraine, for Saint-Étienne because it was the best team in France, and for Juventus because it is the best team in the world!” Michel Platini
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One of the most funniest moments of Michel Platini’s career definitely happened during the Intercontinental Cup 1985 Final between Juventus and Argentinos Juniors. Platini scored probably the best goal of his life at the minute 68 when the result was fixed on 1-1. The referee called the goal off while the player was already exulting. While Platini understood that the goal was not regular he slowly felt down on the floor until he was completely lied down.
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Platini is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, and is regarded as one of the best passers in football history, as well as one of the best ever penalty kick and free kick specialists to have played the game. A quick, versatile, and intelligent offensive midfield playmaker, with a unique ability to read the game and bend the ball from set pieces, he was renowned in particular for his ball control, technical skill, creativity, range of passing, and vision, despite his lack of notable physical or athletic attributes. Although he primarily served as a creative midfielder, who mainly provided assists and created chances for teammates, Platini was also a prolific goalscorer, who was known for his composure in front of goal, as well as his accurate finishing ability with both his feet and his head; he won several top-scoring awards throughout his career, both at club and international level. Despite his talent, skill, and ability, he was also drew criticism from his managers at times, due to his lack of stamina and poor defensive work-rate. Due to his leadership and dominance, as well as his technical and creative attributes, he was given the nickname “Le Roi” (“The King”, in French). Platini won the Ballon d’Or three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985.
