Mike Maignan entered the history of the French team on Sunday. The Guyanese has indeed become the first tricolor goalkeeper to win two shooting sessions with the Blues. Only nine months after the qualification won by Didier Deschamps' men against Portugal in the quarterfinals of the last Euro, the Milanese handed this for Croatia on Sunday, in the quarterfinals of the League of Nations.
However, unlike Bernard Lama or Fabien Barthez, who knew the bitter taste of defeat after a first victorious session, the first in the semi-final of the Euro 1996 against the Czech Republic, only a few days after the qualification won against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, the second in the final of the 2006 World Cup against Italy, another porter can Exercise: Joël Bats.
Four years after the tragedy of Seville, the Parisian goalkeeper had indeed led the French team to victory against Brazil in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup. Author of a capital performance in the face of the artists of the Seleçao, with the high point of a penalty of Zico at the start of the last quarter of an hour, Joël Bats had perfectly launched the Blues by stopping the attemp Brazilian.
“Joël Bats has instilled confidence in the whole team”
And if Michel Platini had seen his attempt flying to the heaven of Guadalajara, Julio Cesar, the fifth Brazilian shooter had found the post, allowing Luis Fernandez to send the Blues to the semi-finals. However, the real hero of the meeting was Joël Bats. N ° 10 Tricolor, which celebrated on June 23, its 31e Birthday paid him a supported tribute. “The greatest gift is Joël Bats and all the players who offered it to me on the field by tearing the qualification”he whispered at the end of the meeting.
“It was nervously very difficult, but Joël (Bats) took away a lot of pressure on us by stopping the attempted Socrates. And even after Michel's failure (Platini), we were in confidence so Joël had been imperial throughout the game. This match could not escape him ”told Yannick Stopyra, Bruno Bellone abundant in the same direction:
“In view of the match scenario, we had enormous confidence in Joël (Bats). We felt him in a state of grace and we were convinced that this session could not escape us. »»
“It was a super Brazil but we had a super guardian, entrusted Henri Michel. He delivered an exceptional service and the team owes him a lot. He instilled confidence in everyone and made Brazilians doubt as Julio Cesar's last shot showed on the post. »»
The interested party has obviously forgotten nothing about this penalty shootout. “This series is full of twists and turns … There is the penalty of Bellone which hits the post and then the goalkeeper's back before entering the nets. At the start, we do not know if the goal is valid, it was funny (sic). There is the failure of Platini who is pushed to the fault and which shoots above. Then there is the penalty of Julio César, who used the strength a lot: I told myself that he was going to hit hard on my right, I left on the good side and the ball hit the post. Finally, the deliverance arrives with the shot of Luis (Fernandez): when he approaches, I say to him: “You are going to mark, God is with us”, He had told Eurosport thirty later.
