Former teammate of Zinédine Zidane in the French team (7 caps from 1997 to 1999), Lilian Laslandes has bad personal memories of the European Cup. In the AJ Auxerre jersey, his acrobatic return refused by the referee marked the era. The powerful center forward thought he had equalized for a few seconds against Borussia Dortmund, in the quarter-final second leg of the 1996-1997 Champions League, before the Spanish referee’s whistle. And the immense anger of Guy Roux.
Then scorer for the Girondins de Bordeaux (1997-2001), champions of France with Sylvain Wiltord and Johan Micoud, Laslandes experienced another misadventure in C1 by being excluded in the space of a minute. It was during a shock against Manchester United, in March 2000 in Lescure, during the second group stage of the LDC.
Lilian Laslandes in the French team in September 1998.
Élie Baup’s Bordeaux team opened the scoring with Michel Pavon, author of a long-range shot which completely escaped Raimond van der Gouw (9th). But Laslandes left his teammates in an instant. He contested an offside decision decided by the assistant referee (22nd), for a first yellow card, before tackling David Beckham the following action (23rd), causing his exclusion. Roy Keane equalized for the Red Devils (33rd) and the
supersub Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave victory to Sir Alex Ferguson’s team by sneaking between Kodjo Afanou and François Grenet (84th).
Aimé Jacquet and Thierry Gilardi scandalized!
“It’s not a good memory because I received a red card after a foul on David Beckham in the first leg which we lost at home (1-2). I first collect a first card on an innocuous action, at 1-0. I go deep, I don’t hear the whistle which signals me offside and I score. The referee doesn’t want to know anything and he gives me a yellow. Continuing the action, Manchester are playing fast and I see Beckham on the sideline ready to go. I go there, I make a sliding tackle to prevent him from rushing and he voluntarily throws himself at my feet. I’m taking a second yellow”says Laslandes, who is celebrating his 55th birthday.
The Canal+ commentators on site were scandalized by this sequence. “It’s dramatic… Why?”wondered Aimé Jacquet, the coach of the 1998 world champion Blues, former coach of Laslandes with the Blues and former successful coach of the Girondins. Thierry Gilardi cried scandal: “He doesn’t touch it! Oh Beckham the actor! Magician of the center perhaps, but also magician for the dives”. Before returning to his remarks, Lilian Laslandes having tackled well on the right foot of the “Spice Boy”.
