Canal+’s essential “field man” for football matches, Laurent Paganelli began in this role (which he himself democratized) in December 1997! The former Saint-Etienne player was able to enjoy the big Champions League matches broadcast by the encrypted channel. And in particular, Zinédine Zidane at the top of his game at Real Madrid from 2001 to 2006. “Zizou” obviously gave the C1 to the Casa Blanca with a memorable left-footed volley in 2002.
The following year, in April 2003, during a quarter-final first leg of the Champions League between Real and Manchester United (3-1) at the Santiago Bernabéu, Thierry Gilardi, the star commentator of C+, was ecstatic about the performance of the Ballon d’Or 98. “When you have paid for your ticket to the stadium and you come to see Zidane play, you have not wasted your money Aimé…”said the sports journalist who died in 2008 to Aimé Jacquet, the coach of the France 98 team who became a TV consultant.
Paganelli is having a blast
“Paga” then intervened for a very funny sequence which resurfaced on social networks. “And what if we didn’t pay?”asked the former footballer turned “field journalist”. In this match against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils, Zidane had provided the assist for the first two Madrid goals, for Luis Figo and Raul, the latter scoring the 3-0 goal on a pass from the Portuguese winger. Fabien Barthez was the Manchester goalkeeper opposite.
Ronaldo had not found the net in the first leg (3-1), but he caught fire two weeks later in the second meeting at Old Trafford, scoring a hat-trick against a helpless Barthez. The English crowd cheered the Brazilian striker when he came on as a substitute. Man United had ended up winning 4-3 thanks to a double from David Beckham but qualification was certainly for Vicente Del Bosque’s Real (who were overthrown by Juventus of Pavel Nedved, Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet in the semi-finals).
