This Is Who We Are

Michel Platini could not even imagine that he would turn into a ghost. When the scandal around Qatar or his two millionth salary at FIFA was in full swing, he hid behind glasses and, at times, simply did not leave the house once again. I am Michel Platini, everyone knows me, he said in an interview with the New York Times. Now they look at me completely differently than before.

How he worked before

He was dumbfounded and helpless before, it seemed to him that his charm and charisma would be enough to defeat any scandal. It's even harder to become a nobody for a man who was a football legend and won everything. It was not for nothing that Pelé said that he would be the only one of all the French that he would have taken to the Brazil team of any era. His father, Aldo, was a good amateur football player and was known for his work as the director of Nancy. It was the father associated with football who gg bet inspired the young Michel for future achievements. Watching from the stands how Alfredo Di Stefano gave a miracle pass, he turned to his dad and asked how the football player even saw where to give the ball. Having received no answer, he continued himself: oh, he had already managed to see. At 17, he dreamed of professional football, but it seemed that his dreams were not destined to come true. After he passed out during a physical, doctors mistakenly diagnosed him with a weak heart. He was crushed, but not without the efforts of the Pope, Michel got into the reserves of Nancy, and there he perked up. Platini Jr. made his senior debut on May 3rd, 1973 against Nimes. In the 1974-75 season, he scored 17 goals, thanks to which a modest team managed to return to Ligue 1. But if many comrades played for their own pleasure without apparent difficulties, Platini himself could hardly cope. In the sixties, he sacrificed change just to squeeze in an extra 30 minutes per workout. In Nancy, he practiced free-kicks for hours, with the help of a friend, goalkeeper Jean-Michel Moutier. The Fall of Michel Platini" title="The Fall of Michel Platini" />

What happens next

But that defeat only made the French stronger. We finally realized that we are really good. Before that match, we did not understand this. At home Euro 84, Platini scored 9 goals in 5 games with 2 headers, 2 from free kicks, 1 penalty and 4 from open play. Platini in 1984 was no worse than Cruyff in 1974 or Maradona in 1986. And it was not only the goals, but also the technique, the elegance, the pleasure he received from the game. Long-term France coach Michel Hidalgo loved attacking football and he selected four creatives in midfield for his team, the so-called magic square consisted of Luis Fernandez, Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse and Platini. The latter was not the only star, and nothing was built around him. As a result, the number ten had to try on the role of center forward, playmaker and regista.

But some of his ideas were really good. He won the battle to reform the back-pass rule and tried to get more emphasis on home-grown players, although the latter was not possible due to EU bureaucracy. Platini argued that the introduction of a video assistant referee would disrupt the natural flow of games, and helped introduce financial fair play rules. But he was unpredictable: one of the UEFA representatives somehow left because he could not understand his boss, who reacted completely different for the same offer on different days. Platini was touchy: when Arsene Wenger began to advocate for the introduction of a video assistant, the Frenchman accused his compatriot of entrepreneurship and unwillingness to see the success of small clubs. The Arsenal coach, in fact the adopted son of Aldo, Platini's father, was shocked by this attitude.