This is one of the images of the coronation of the French team at the 1998 World Cup, after a 3-0 victory against Brazil on July 12. In the presidential gallery of the Stade de France, Laurent Blanc is in jogging when raising the trophy alongside his captain Didier Deschamps. “The president”, Taulier de la Défense Tricolore by Aimé Jacquet with Marcel Desailly, was excluded in the semi-finals against Croatia (2-1), four days earlier in the same pregnant in Saint-Denis, after a mood gesture against Slaven Bilic in the 76th minute.
The red card received by white had caused a lot of ink to flow. On an eccentric free kick of the Croats, Bilic collapsed by screaming in pain, hands on his eyes, while the number 5 of the Blues had pushed him to the torso (and perhaps touching his chin). The Spanish referee of the game, Mr. José Garcia-Aranda, had spotted the stampede between the two defenders to exclude without hesitation “lolo” white, the depriving of the potential final while Lilian Thuram, guilty about the opening of Davor Suker (46th), had given the advantage to the premises of an unlikely double (47th and 70th).
Laurent Blanc, a logical red card
Slaven Bilic, who became coach of the Croatian selection then coach of West Ham, West Brom or Watford, does not bother. Laurent Blanc can only blame himself for himself. “Yes, and I haven't changed my version since then. As on all corners, I scored Laurent Blanc. Nothing had happened between us with the whole match. Then, coming out of nowhere, he strikes me. Not like Mike Tyson, but he strikes me “thus launches the former defender at
Parisian in 2011. “We don't care where he strikes me!” We see red boxes for much less than that. It was just a reflex and I am sure that it was also one of his part ”assures Bilic, repeating that “The culprit is him”.
This week, Didier Deschamps' French team finds Croatia, still led by Zlatko Dalic, who was already in office in the 2018 World Cup final won by the Blues in Moscow. The two teams compete in the quarterfinals of the League of Nations on Thursday in Split and then Sunday at the Stade de France, with the ambition of climbing into the “Final Four” of the competition, next June, with a semi-final against the winner of Spain-Cays-Bas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFPJSBFI2LS
