THE RISE AND FALL OF MICHEL PLATINI
Michel Platini never expected to become a living ghost. When the furore over his support for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid – and his $2 million back salary payment from FIFA – was at its most intense, he would put on a pair of glasses or a hat before he left home. “You know, I’m Michel Platini – everyone knows me,” he told the New York Times. “The way that people looked at me was totally different.” Sometimes, envisaging the accusing looks from passers-by, he just stayed indoors.
The disgrace must have been very hard to comprehend for someone who had seldom encountered a predicament that he couldn’t charm his way out of.
And it must have been doubly difficult for someone who, as a player, had everything – even if he didn’t win everything – and who Pele had said was the only French footballer who would be picked for any Brazilian team of any era.
IN 1984, THE FRENCHMAN INSPIRED HIS NATION’S FIRST-EVER TRIUMPH IN AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM SPORT
Platini’s father, Aldo, a good amateur player and a long-time director at Nancy, educated him in football. While watching Alfredo Di Stefano in a friendly once, the young Platini, marvelling at one wondrous pass from the Argentine, asked his dad, “How did he know he was there?” When Aldo didn’t comment, Michel thought for a moment and then said, “Ah, because he had already looked.”
At 17 years old, Platini’s dream of playing professional football seemed to be in shreds. He had fainted during a breathing test in his medical at Metz and was then diagnosed – wrongly – as having a weak heart.
The psychological consolation of joining the reserve team at Nancy, where Aldo worked, helped him to regain his confidence. Platini Jr made his first-team debut against Nimes (The Thistles) stormed back into Ligue 1. However, for Platini, it took a lot of effort to make football look effortless. In the 1960s, he had made a habit of returning to school early in his lunch break to squeeze in an extra 30 minutes of practice. At Nancy, he spent hours practising free-kicks using a wall of dummies and his friend, goalkeeper Jean-Michel Moutier.
