|
|
|
|
Laurent Blanc
|
| |
|
| |
Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965 in Alès) is a retired French football defender and current manager of Bordeaux, who scored the first golden goal in World Cup history.
France, Blanc played in Euro 92, reached the semi-finals in Euro 96, and won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He was also well-known for kissing good friend and goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's head before the start of every match, supposedly for good luck (the two did repeat this ritual when they played together for Manchester United, only for Champions League matches).
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Laurent Blanc' Start a new discussion about 'Laurent Blanc' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965 in Alès) is a retired French football defender and current manager of Bordeaux, who scored the first golden goal in World Cup history.
Career
For France, Blanc played in Euro 92, reached the semi-finals in Euro 96, and won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He was also well-known for kissing good friend and goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's head before the start of every match, supposedly for good luck (the two did repeat this ritual when they played together for Manchester United, only for Champions League matches). Overall, he recorded 97 caps and scored 16 goals for his country, a very large number for a defender. The most important of those must be the first ever World Cup golden goal, in the second round against Paraguay on 28 June 1998. He missed the World Cup final in 1998 after being sent off in the semi-final against Croatia for elbowing Slaven Bilic, although replays showed that Bilic had clearly feigned the injury. The Croatian was heavily criticised afterwards.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson had attempted to lure Blanc several times since 1996 and finally succeeded in 2001. Despite his age of 35 years, Blanc proved a competent successor for the departed Jaap Stam and United fans nicknamed him "Larry White". He retired two years later, having helped his club to the 2002-03 F.A. Premier League crown.
In 2006, the readers of France Football Magazine voted him the fourth best French player of all time behind Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane and Raymond Kopa.
On June 8, 2007, Blanc was named new manager of FC Girondins de Bordeaux.
Honours
Statistics
Player
|-
|1983-84||rowspan="8"|Montpellier||rowspan="4"|Division 2||15||0||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1984-85||32||5||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1985-86||29||6||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1986-87||34||18||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1987-88||rowspan="4"|Division 1||24||6||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1988-89||35||15||||||||||2||0||||
|-
|1989-90||36||12||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1990-91||38||14||||||||||6||1||||
|-
|1991-92||Napoli||Serie A||31||6||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1992-93||Nîmes Olympique||Division 1||29||1||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1993-94||rowspan="2"|Saint-Étienne||rowspan="2"|Division 1||33||5||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1994-95||37||13||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1995-96||Auxerre||Division 1||23||2||||||||||1||0||||
|-
|1996-97||Barcelona||La Liga||28||1||||||||||5||0||||
|-
|1997-98||rowspan="2"|Olympique Marseille||rowspan="2"|Division 1||31||11||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|1998-99||32||2||||||||||10||1||||
|-
|1999-00||rowspan="2"|Internazionale Milano||rowspan="2"|Serie A||34||3||||||||||colspan="2"|-||||
|-
|2000-01||33||3||||||||||9||0||||
|-
|2001-02||rowspan="2"|Manchester United||rowspan="2"|Premier League||29||1||2||0||0||0||15||2||46||3
|-
|2002-03||19||0||1||0||0||0||9||1||29||1
428||110||||||||||19||1||||
98||12||||||||||9||0||||
28||1||||||||||5||0||||
48||1||3||0||0||0||24||3||75||4
602||124||||||||||57||4||||
|}
International Goal
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|
| 1 | 18 November 1989 | Toulouse, France | | 2–0 | Won | 1990 World Cup Qualification | | 2 | 21 January 1990 | Kuwait City, Kuwait | | 1–0 | Won | Friendly | | 3 | 20 February 1991 | Paris, France | | 3–1 | Won | Euro '92 Qualification | | 4 | 14 August 1991 | Poznan, Poland | | 5–1 | Won | Friendly | | 5, 6 | 17 February 1993 | Ramat Gan Stadium, Tel Aviv, Israel | | 4–0 | Won | 1994 World Cup Qualification | | 7 | 8 September 1993 | Ratina Stadion, Tampere, Finland | | 2–0 | Won | 1994 World Cup Qualification | | 8 | 26 April 1995 | Nantes, France | | 4–0 | Won | Euro '96 Qualification | | 9 | 1 June 1996 | Stuttgart, Germany | | 1–0 | Won | Friendly | | 10 | 18 June 1996 | St James' Park, Newcastle, England | | 3–1 | Won | Euro '96 Group Stage | | 11 | 9 October 1996 | Paris, France | | 4–0 | Won | Friendly | | 12 | 25 February 1998 | Marseille, France | | 3–3 | Draw | Friendly | | 13 | 29 May 1998 | Casablanca, Morocco | | 2–2 | Draw | Hassan-II Trophy | | 14 | 28 June 1998 | Stade Félix-Bollaert, Lens, Pas-de-Calais, France | | 1–0 | Won | 1998 World Cup Round of 16 | | 15 | 26 April 2000 | Saint-Denis, France | | 3–2 | Won | Friendly | | 16 | 11 June 2000 | Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges, Belgium | | 3–0 | Won | Euro 2000 Group Stage |
External links
|
| |
|
|
