StoryTop 30 matches that marked the Euro. Until 2021, "Le Monde" has classified the 30 matches that made the legend of the tournament. In 7th position, the Blues won their first title after a final (2-0) marked by the misfortune of Luis Arconada.
Legendary matches aren't always the best. For the neutral spectator, this France-Spain is more of a thought. The kind of meeting that you force yourself to watch until the end because it’s a final, anyway. But at a trophy walk, only victory is good for the main players. We become less attentive to the way and we retain above all the emotion, that of a first time for a country still ignorant of the taste of victory in football.
Two years after the World Cup in Seville, the Blues leave romanticism and beautiful play in the locker room on June 27, 1984. No cynicism, Michel Hidalgo's players are just caught up in the fear of concluding. In tennis, it looks like they are playing "little arm". Before making his apron, the coach gives his last talk in the locker room of the Parc des Princes. Simple words, affect as often and a drawing with a mountain. " You got to the top, now you have to plant the flag "He said before disappearing.
It is still necessary to have a little more oxygen and not tumble into the void. "The final, we played it with fear in our stomachs, confided Luis Fernandez in his autobiography, Luis strikes back, published in 2008 (Hugo et Compagnie editions). We weren't released. I remember that at first our legs were shaking. " The Spanish targeted him, the child of Tarifa, in Andalusia, and treat him of "Renegado" ("Traitor") to push him to unpin. In vain. "My first victory of the evening", welcomes the one who replaced Bruno Genghini in the “magic square”.
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Bullying and "panty tagging"
In the 1980s, the Roja has not yet embarked on his cultural revolution. Licked football, repeated passes and possession of the ball have not yet become his canons of beauty and success. The Spanish swear by the furia, a more virile and direct football. A furia capable of knocking down mountains, like placing a 12-1 history in Malta to close a very bad goal difference to the Netherlands and validating the qualification for the final phase of a Euro.
In the first round, a last-minute goal from Maceda against the FRG and three opposing shots on the posts extend the Spanish miracle. This team must also have a destiny. And then, she knows how to thwart the licked game of the Blues. Faced with intimidation, individual marking "in the pants" and Spanish tactical faults, the French are stammering their football but have at least learned not to turn the other cheek.
In what Alain Giresse describes as "Real match of cobblers", the French team is on the verge of correctional in the first period when Patrick Battiston turns a head from Santillana in front of his line. The rocking moment arrives. At 57e minute, Bernard Lacombe stumbles at the entrance to the Spanish surface as a wheeled attacker knows how to do. "I never touched it", swears from Salva, his bodyguard of the day. The images rather give reason to the defender.
"Arconada was a great keeper"
A small fault, great consequence. Especially when Michel Platini is waiting behind the ball. With him, a free kick 20 yards closer to a penalty. He has already smacked against Yugoslavia for one of his eight tournament goals. But Luis Arconada has seen the film and guesses that he will try to get around his wall. The Real Sociedad goalkeeper covers his left side and catches the ball. " It missed ", enrage "Platoche" which, already turned over, misses what will become the most famous fault of the hand of football.
For a reason still unknown, the ball slides indeed between the arm and the belly of an Arconada who has just enough time to get up and see the leather cross the line for a few centimeters. Because he knows the value of the Basque goalkeeper and knows that Spain owes him his presence in the final, Platini has never managed to savor this goal. “Arconada was a great goalkeeper. It's a shame for him, I wanted to score a goal where he could do nothing ", regrets the man who, having become UEFA president, will award the winner trophy to Spain in 2008 and to his substitute goalkeeper Andrés Palop … wearing the Arconada jersey.
This goal fell from the sky does not release the French. Hand on the thigh, Battiston gives way to Manuel Amoros before admitting to a dumbfounded Hidalgo that he simulated his injury to give "A bit of final" to his friend, a simple substitute since his expulsion during the inaugural match against Denmark. 85e minute, Yvon Le Roux sees red for cutting out Manuel Sarabia. Yes, now at ten, France is afraid and backs off.
The Spanish overwhelm the referee
But this team has been too good and wants to finish on a note that is more like it. In stoppage time, Jean Tigana scratches yet another ball then throws Bruno Bellone in depth. The sequel, the attacker told it to World in 2016. “Facing me, Arconada plays well. He's not diving, this bastard, he's waiting. If I hit hard, I'll hit him. So I stuck it at the last moment, it was the only way to score. "
This wonder does not soften the bitterness of the vanquished. Besides, the Spaniards find the culprit completely designated and it is not the unfortunate Arconada. Accused of home arbitration, Czechoslovakian Vojtech Christov discovers some new insults in the language of Cervantes. The Blues, them, do not even notice it. This moment finally belongs to them and they first want to share it with their coach carried in triumph on the lawn of the Parc des Princes.
In office since 1976, Michel Hidalgo hesitated to stack again for two years. After all, this team has everything to become world champion. But the man defends principles and promised Henri Michel his succession. So, nostalgia invades him already when putting words in front of journalists on this first title. "Tomorrow morning, it may be difficult … But it's a kind of novel, and there is this love story that ends with a beautiful ending. "
Find our Top 30 matches that marked the Euro
