Almost forty years after the Blues’ coronation at Euro 84, is Michel Platini the best French player in history ahead of Zinedine Zidane? Some have decided.
While Didier Deschamps and his players prepare to compete in Euro 2024 which will take place in Germany from June 14 to July 14, it is also an anniversary of French football that will be celebrated, with the forty years of the first major title of the French selection won in 1984 during the Euro, by Michel Platini and his teammates at the time. The opportunity for some to wonder if the former number ten is the best French player of all time.
Several journalists and consultants from the channel The Team answered the question on Friday, while the sports daily devoted a special issue this weekend to Michel Platini. And opinions were particularly clear-cut and divided, between pro-Platini and pro-Zidane. On the one hand, Etienne Moatti voted in favor of the former AS Nancy-Lorraine and Juventus player. “ I’ve seen both players and there’s really no debate for me. Michel Platini starts at eighteen, he’s already a complete player, you can’t imagine. »
Is the king Zidane?
For the journalist who was lucky enough to be able to follow the careers of the two French football stars in quick succession, the matter is beyond any doubt. “ He was a scorer, he was a passer, he had a header, he had both feet, he had influence, he was already a captain when he was a kid. Zidane is a very good player, but that’s all. » On this last point, his colleague Benjamin Quarez, voiced another opinion: “It’s a question of generation. Zinedine Zidane is for me the number ten of my generation at a time when we have images like never before. And each time in the comparisons, Zinedine Zidane emerges as perhaps the best player of all time. »
And the journalist from Le Parisien does not support his argument by citing some illustrious football players. “ In any case, that’s what Ronaldinho and Sir Alex Ferguson said. I think they saw football matches. » And to quote Michel Platini himself: “ He said that Zinedine Zidane was the king of passing, the king of control, the king of striking, and so for me indeed, he was the king. »
