A tangle of destinies. Like Italy, which for Michel Platini, “Le Roi”, is the land of his grandparents – originally from the Novara area in Piedmont – which then became his second homeland, the nation that consecrated him as one of the best footballers of the last century, the man who made Juventus great, dragged to the top of the world with his innate class and ability to transform a play into a work of art. As Sicily is in the Frenchman’s destiny, the land that marked his absolute debut in Italy (it was 18 August ’82, at the old “Cibali” Catania-Juventus in the Italian Cup, 1-1), that Island « which I have always liked because it is kissed by the sun, so much so that I returned there on holiday.” Destinies that intertwine in an exceptional location in Santa Lucia del Mela, in the event well organized by the Juventus Club of president Benedetto Merulla, named after Gaetano Scirea, at the “Palasport” recently dedicated to another “mundial”, Paolo Rossi, the hero of “Sarrià”.
Two black and white icons who also made history in blue: «And this is one of the reasons why I am here – begins Michel Platini, in the small town of Messina for the 40th anniversary of the Merulla club and acclaimed by hundreds of Juventus hearts (and not only) –. When I heard Club Scirea my heart sank. Gaetano was something different, bigger. Paolo is the kindest and most serene person I have ever met. They were two great players from my Juventus team. Like Zoff. Much more than myself: they won the World Cup, I didn’t. And they also made me weigh it…”. Ovation and stadium chants, Michel is almost moved by all this affection: «Forty years have passed since the golden period with Juve, but the fans’ love for me has not changed. It is not easy to explain this passion: evidently we have won something…”.
Michel strikes with his irony, the one that had immediately won over the Lawyer. «Yet when I arrived I didn’t even know who he was – he admits referring to Gianni Agnelli -. On the day of the signing, Boniperti handed me the phone: “The lawyer wants to speak to you.” And I: but if he’s here with me, he helped me sign the contract. And he: “But not that one, the Lawyer with a capital L”. I must say that this lawyer later became famous…”.
«The Lawyer loved me»
There was a winning feeling between the two: Michel was that genius on the pitch that Agnelli dreamed of seeing again from Sivori’s shots: «He loved me because I responded to his jokes with other jokes. The others didn’t. The lawyer reminded everyone that he had chosen me and not Boniperti: it was a source of pride for him.” In short, for the Juventus boss Platini was the right champion to aim for the first European Cup: «Did it seem easy to enter a changing room of world champions and make an impact straight away? It wasn’t at all for me – recalls the Frenchman – and for Boniek: when we lost it was always our fault…”. Michel speaks freely: «And in difficult moments I clung to the more experienced: when things weren’t going well Gaetano (Scirea, ed.), the soul of the team, organized dinners to ease the tension. The Juve world had to be understood and in this Zoff and Scirea were very good at teaming up as well as Tardelli and Cabrini.” And he doesn’t accept, Michel, when he is told that that shirt initially weighed on him: “It couldn’t have been a burden, but a privilege: that shirt completed me, allowing me to demonstrate my worth.”
1983 was the year of his first Ballon d’Or, but the championship and above all a Champions Cup eluded him… already won: «What a disappointment in Athens! However, I remember well the match that gave us the push and the awareness that we could do it: Aston Villa-Juventus, 2 to 1 for us. That evening we sent a strong signal. We were too strong to think about not winning that Cup. And instead it happened. I share Boniek’s thoughts: if we had beaten Hamburg, then we would have won four more consecutive European Cups.” If Juve became more modern than the usual “Trapattonian” team it is because «one day we went to Boniperti: we could no longer play with the usual pattern of the cross from the back for the center forward. Trap listened to us. I didn’t like the coach… when he changed me: to maintain the result he recalled me and Tardelli by inserting Vignola and Prandelli, always!
After Athens the Juventus cycle took shape: Scudetto, Italian Cup, Cup Winners’ Cup in 1984 – probably the year in which Michel was seen at the top especially in the national team – until the dramatic night in Brussels which saw the Bianconeri lift the Cup but cry 39 victims: «That team didn’t deserve the epilogue in Athens and the time was gentlemanly – adds Michel -. They were the best years of my life, even in the national team.”
If Athens was the most disappointing point of that black and white cycle, Tokyo is the highest point of Michel’s journey to the Lady: «I scored the decisive penalty and we lifted the Cup. Imagine if we had lost it after the goal unfairly disallowed for myself…”. That pose of Michel lying on the pitch with a disappointed look towards the German referee Roth is a piece of history. The shot bears the signature of Salvatore Giglio, sitting next to Michel, Juventus’ official photographer for 44 years: «I immortalized the whole sequence, Michel couldn’t rest», his words. Platini admits that he felt «empty, sad, disconsolate. I just avoided going to the referee because I would have received a one-year ban.” “Le Roi” then reveals another background story: «Years later I accidentally met in Singapore the very linesman who reported the offside to the referee in the action of my goal against Argentinos. In the elevator: “I am that gentleman who raised the flag…”. I looked him in the eyes, grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and said “damn you”. Then we had a good laugh together. Of course, knowing that a goal as beautiful as the one in Tokyo was disallowed due to an offside by Brio didn’t make me feel good for a long time. Do you understand? Brio! What was he doing in the area?”.
Luckily Michel scored so many great goals: «And also important: the first one against Pescara, in the Cup, took some of the pressure off me, the one against Ascoli was very nice, with the sombrero from the heel of a defender and the lob to the goalkeeper on the way out: the credit went to Bettega, if he hadn’t given me the ball so badly and so far back I wouldn’t have invented that backheel! Laughter and applause, this is Michel too.
In the ’80s the duel with another fantastic “10”, Diego Maradona, lit up Serie A: «It was the press that turned us against us, but there has always been great respect between us. What could I say about someone who brought Napoli so high? We respected each other to the end: he came to my farewell football match in Nancy, I reciprocated by going to Buenos Aires.”
Yes, the numbers 10. Juve is an art gallery with many fantastic “painters” who have worn that glorious shirt: «You all ask me who was the strongest between Sivori, Platini, Baggio and Del Piero: how do you do it? to choose? We are all different even in the same role. It’s as if I were saying: who was better between Battisti, Celentano and Lucio Dalla?”.
Too much football on TV today bores him: «I watch few matches, there is too much overexposure of the product. And I cannot tolerate that number 10s are becoming extinct. I saw Zidane play on the flank in Madrid, Ronaldinho and Messi in Barcelona and I didn’t agree. Players like them must be free to express their genius centrally. If anything, the real wingers and the ability to jump the man are missing: the dribbling has disappeared! He doesn’t like the new Champions League, unlike the Nations League which is precisely his idea as president of UEFA: «So there are no longer big-small friendlies but a tournament divided into brackets with more interesting matches without those useless goalscoring goals». But will Platini return to the world of football one day? “No. I’m happy in my home in the South of France (Michel lives in Cassis, ed.). You know, it’s often sunny and I love being warm. Like in this magnificent land called Sicily.”