Michel Platini

1972/79 AS Nancy-Lorraine (FRA) 214 matches, 127 goals

(French Championship: 150 matches, 81 goals)

(French D2 Championship: 33 matches, 17 goals)

(Coupe de France: 31 matches, 29 goals)

1979/1982 Saint-Etienne (FRA) 145 matches, 82 goals

(French Championship: 104 matches, 58 goals)

(Coupe de France: 25 matches, 15 goals)

(UEFA Cup: 14 matches, 9 goals)

(European Champion Clubs' Cup: 2 matches)

1982/1987 Juventus Turin (ITA) 226 matches, 105 goals

(Italian Championship: 147 matches, 68 goals)

(Italian Cup: 39 matches, 16 goals)

(European Champion Clubs' Cup: 30 matches, 18 goals)

(UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 8 matches, 2 goals)

(UEFA Super Cup: 1 match)

(Intercontinental Cup: 1 match, 1 goal)

With the National Team :

72 caps, 41 goals

(Friendly matches: 31 caps, 14 goals)

(World Cup qualifiers: 17 caps, 12 goals)

(World Cup: 14 caps, 5 goals)

(Euro qualifiers: 5 caps, 1 goal)

(Euro: 5 caps, 9 goals)

1st cap: 27 March 1976 against Czechoslovakia (2-2)

Last cap: 29 April 1987 against Iceland (2-0)

Olympic: 7 caps, 4 goals

U21: 3 caps

Kuwait: 1 friendly cap

Michel Platini

Born June 21, 1955 in Joeuf (France)

French, Attacking-midfielder, Second Striker, 1m79

Nicknames: Platoche, Le roi Michel

Michel Platini was born on June 21, 1955 in Joeuf, France. Son of Aldo Platini, an amateur player and then coach of the AS Nancy-Lorraine team, he lived a childhood rocked by football and total freedom in this sport, so much so that he is the opposite of the playing style of young people from the first French training centers.

Endowed with an outstanding technique, he has an incredible vision of the game that allows him to place himself among the best playmakers at his age. However, his frail physique is lacking and despite all the technical qualities he possesses, he is rejected by FC Metz, a great historic French club.

It is therefore within AS Nancy that he will make his professional debut during the 1972/73 season. Metz's rivals gave him a chance despite his lack of athletic qualities, and the choice paid off, they had just recruited the best player in their history. He made his Ligue 1 debut on May 3, 1973, it was the beginning of the Platoche saga.

Excellent with AS Nancy, initially promising, it was finally the 1975/76 season that made the player explode in the eyes of the general public, then aged 20, the player who played in the attacking-midfielder position had a stratospheric season with his club: 36 games played, 38 goals scored and 10 assists.

This season coincided with his debut in the French national team, which he made in March 1976 against Czechoslovakia, a 2-2 draw. During his time at Nancy, Michel Platini will work on one of the greatest elements of his career, his way of taking free kicks, with goalkeeper Jean-Michel Moutier, he trains long hours on this exercise that he will master to perfection.

With Michel Platini, Nancy will achieve one of the most beautiful periods of its history, notably winning the Coupe de France 1978. Finally, it is AS Saint-Etienne who will have the privilege of recruiting the rising star of football in 1979. The one who now embodies the marvelous team of the greens will achieve fantastic season after fantastic season, his record with the greens is as follows: 3 seasons, 145 matches played, 82 goals and 48 assists. Now, it is indisputable, Michel Platini is the best French player.

With Saint-Etienne, he won the French championship in 1981 and reached the final of the Coupe de France twice, unfortunately 2 defeats in 1981 and 1982. His XXL performances allowed him to join one of the biggest clubs in the world: Juventus Turin in 1982.

There, Michel Platini experienced extraordinary years of glory, he won 2 Serie A, 1 Italian Cup, 1 Champions League, 1 Cup Winners' Cup, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 1 UEFA Super Cup. Playing as a second striker, Michel Platini will delight and form a magnificent duo with Zbigniew Boniek who was considered the Pavel Nedved of the 80s. His statistical record with Juventus is phenomenal: 5 seasons, 226 games played, 105 goals and 62 assists.

Including an exceptional 1984/85 season in every way, top scorer in the Champions League with 7 goals, he comes out of a Euro where he is the top scorer with 9 goals, during this season, he also finishes top scorer in Serie A with 18 goals, he wins the Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup, and he wins his 3rd consecutive Ballon d'Or.

At the same time, he establishes himself as the best player in the history of the French team, a French team that was an average team when he arrived and which won Euro 1984 with him, during the competition, he achieves the best performance in the history of a player in a Euro, scoring 9 goals and delivering 1 assist in 5 games.

During the first match, against Denmark, the captain of the French team scores a goal. But it is during the second match that the King will wake up. Against Belgium, he had a perfect match, one of the greatest individual performances in the history of football, he scored a hat-trick, touched the ball 120 times, made 70 passes (83% of passes successful, he delivered 4 key passes, he made 7 out of 9 deep passes, he made 3 dribbles, won 13 ground duels out of 20, he intercepted 4 balls and won 4 fouls. Against Yugoslavia, he repeated his feat and scored another hat-trick, he made 86% of passes, made 100% of deep passes (8 out of 8) and won 3 fouls. In the semi-final, against Portugal, he scored 1 goal and delivered 1 assist, he established himself as one of the best players in history and the number 1 darling of the French.

His final will once again be a masterclass, scoring the opening goal from a free kick (with the help of the opposing goalkeeper who makes a mistake), he completes 81% of his passes, he delivers 2 key passes and becomes The King of France, winning the first major trophy in the history of this country, and forever changing the dimension of his nation footballistically. In addition to his incredible Euro where he was logically elected best player of the tournament and that he was at that time the best player in the world, he achieved 3 excellent World Cups, first in 1978 where he was the technical leader of his team, then in 1982 where he achieved one of the best individual performances of a player in the World Cup against Kuwait: 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 successful dribbles, 91% of successful passes, 7 key passes, 7 successful deep passes, 8 ground duels won, 4 fouls suffered and 1 interception.

During the 1986 World Cup, he reached 3rd place at the World Cup, a historic performance for France, finding again this mark reached only 1 time, in 1958. During this edition, he achieved 2 huge matches against Italy first then against Zico's Brazil.

He ended his international career on April 29, 1987, after 72 caps, 41 goals and 20 assists. His football career ended that same year, 1987, when he was 32 years old. Many rightly consider him the best French player in history and among the best players in the history of football.

- Ballon d'Or in 1983, 1984 and 1985

- Ballon de Bronze in 1980

- French Champion of Champions in 1977 and 1984

- Golden Eleven in 1983, 1984, 1985

- Voted French Player of the Year in 1976 and 1977

- Top scorer of the Euro 1984 (9 goals) (France)

- Top scorer of the Italian championship in 1983 (16 goals), 1984 (20 goals) and 1985 (18 goals) (Juventus)

- Top scorer of the Champions League in 1985 (7 goals) (Juventus)

- Voted best player of the Italian championship (Guerin d'or) in 1984

- Voted best player of the Euro 1984

- Voted best player of the Intercontinental Cup in 1985

- Voted international personality of the year by the Irish Football Association in 2002

- Named in the World Team of the 20th Century

- Named in the FIFA Dream Team of the World Cup in 2002

- Named in the Team of the Tournament of the 1982 and 1986 World Cup

- Named in the Team of the Tournament of the 1984 Euro

- Named in the FIFA 100

- Received the International Award "Giacinto Facchetti" in 2011

- Received the Artemio Franchi Award in 2003

- Received the Guy Wildenstein Award of the Academy of Sports in 1977.

- Received the Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe Award in 1984

- Received the Alain Award Danet of the sports academy in 1997

- Juventus Turin player of the century

- Inducted into the Italian football Hall of Fame in 2011

- Inducted into the English football Hall of Fame in 2008 as the greatest European player

- Inducted among the Glories of sport by the Federation of French international sports

- Elected French player of the 20th century in 1999 by France Football

- Elected best player in the history of the blues in 2004 by France Football

- Elected among the "legends" of football by Golden Foot in 2004

- Received the special prize of Globe Soccer Awards in 2012

- Received the Legion of Honor on April 29, 1985

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