After the Olympic coronation of 1984 and that of the Euro the same year, the French football team achieved another milestone fourteen years later by winning the 1998 World Cup. A historic and unprecedented moment in the history of the Blues. Enough to bring Aimé Jacquet's men forever into the imagination of football fans. But for the main actors, it was very difficult to realize what they had just done.
After raising their arms to the sky, receiving the World Cup trophy and sharing their first minutes as world champions together and with their loved ones, the players went through the media box. A moment which has nothing to do with what can happen today since they did not hesitate to spend a good time with the journalists to talk directly about their exploit.
And there was particularly this sequence broadcast live on Canal+, during the interview with Bixente Lizarazu and Emmanuel Petit. Gold medal round, the two teammates appeared hilarious, but above all totally incredulous in the face of their new status as world champions. The midfielder, author of the third and final French goal in the final won against Brazil (3-0), started.
France 98, the players did not realize
“As I entered the room, I heard Bixente say that he didn’t realize it yet. Well that's my case too. I can't figure it out yet. » With an almost vague look, Emmanuel Petit did not manage to say much more at the time. “So I guess I don’t realize. »
And then he added: “I think we'll have all night to make it happen. »
Enough to make Bixente Lizarazu bounce back: “We have our whole life to achieve this in fact. » And twenty-seven years later, the Blues of 1998 actually had time to understand what they had done and the massive scale of their feat. Their hero status has never faded.
