Jacques Vendroux, Jean-François Pérès and Lionel Rosso, edited by Gauthier Delomez
A milestone day in Michel Platini’s career. Then playmaker at Juventus Turin, the former number 10 won, on May 29, 1985, the European Cup of Champions Clubs against Liverpool. A sporting success preceded by one of the greatest dramas in football history. Before the kick-off of the final, at the Heysel stadium in Brussels, a collapse in the stands had caused the death of 39 people and hundreds of injured. “It’s a life drama, more than a footballer’s drama,” says Michel Platini, exceptional guest on the Europe 1 Sport show on Saturday.
>> Find the full interview with Michel Platini in Europe 1 Sport on Saturday January 8 from 8 p.m.
Platini opposed to seeing supporters standing in a stadium
“When people come to see you in a stadium and they never return home, it hurts. We do not play football for that”, continues the ex-French international, always moved to recall this tragic event . “It’s not the film we dreamed of making when we were little,” continues Michel Platini. If he remembered this May 29, 1985, the former UEFA president drew lessons from it. “Of course I think about it. This is why when I see what is happening in the stadiums, that the supporters want to stand, I am wary,” he said at the microphone of Europe 1.
When he was at the head of the presidency of the European body, Michel Platini says that the supporters came to see him. “We had an association of European supporters. They wanted to be standing in the stadiums. I told them ‘Me, as long as I am president, you will never be standing in the stadium. I have known too many tragedies, deaths, a lot of deaths at the time. Maybe after me you will do what you want, but while I am there you will not do it, “recalls the former leader.
“We had to play”, otherwise “it was civil war in Brussels”
May 29, 1985 remains a major date in the footballing career of the legendary number 10 of the France team, since his club Juventus Turin won the European trophy that day, thanks to his penalty scored in the second half. time. Almost 40 years after the meeting, Michel Platini explains on Europe 1 why he does not regret that the match took place anyway. “Where I think it’s important is that the match was a real match, we won a real match. Afterwards, people ask me whether to play or not. Yes, we absolutely had to play” , indicates the former French international.
“We had to play for other reasons (than sporting), to protect the public. It would have been a civil war in the city of Brussels,” said the former UEFA leader, who recounts his life on the lawn. “I went to see the supporters before (kick-off). At the time, there were pistols, knives, all that. If they had known that there had been deaths, because the people did not know it, I think it would have degenerated. Fortunately we played, “insists Michel Platini, who today asks for” caution “from all supporters to avoid such tragedies.