"Too bad if I pass for a poet!" »Hidalgo or the victorious esthete

Thursday afternoon, Michel Hidalgo died at the age of 87. We no longer present the guy. A final of the Champion Clubs' Cup as a player with the Stade de Reims, a World Cup semi-final as coach of the France team and, two years later, the Grail with this victory at Euro 84 History will remember that their first international success, the Blues owe it in large part to a slightly yucky goal from Platoche, quite the opposite of what this Hidalgo team was: beautiful. In any case, this is what those who saw it on their old televisions say - for example, not us. Small indicator that does not mislead on the degree of panache of France of Michel in gold, the selector made play three ten in front of a stakhanovist charged with cleaning. We called it the magic square. Today it is the opposite, an army of defensive circles and get ready in front.

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In short, the magic square. Alain Giresse, Bernard Genghini and Jean Tigana accompanied Platoche, then Luis Fernandez in place of Genghini. At the time, we could afford it, the ten were running the streets with us. And the worst part is that there were some left on the bench. Among the champions of 1984, we can quote Jean-Marc Ferreri, for example: "There was a lot of talent at that time, a lot of leaders," he tells us. Michel, his leitmotif was beautiful play, beautiful football. He is the only coach who put three number 10 to play. »True statement in a reality where Zico, Socrates and Falcao would not have toyed with the baballe under the orders of Telê Santana. “Besides, yesterday,” continues Ferreri, “I could see a replay of France-Brazil from 86 and it was a very nice tribute. Such a football match was the best tribute possible ”.

The emotion is eternal

At the time, the late Henri Michel had already taken up the torch but we understand the idea. Hidalgo was an obsession with beauty. In 1976, he relied on what he did not want to see as taboo words: "panache and brio", "a smiling football". “I was a player, coach and spectator, I always had these ideas. And too bad if I pass for a poet or a nerdy! He smiled.

Aware of the importance of the result in the survival of a coach on his bench (we owe him in particular this incredible monarchical analogy: “a coach who wins, said Michel Hidalgo, is Louis XIV, Versailles and the Hall of Mirrors. When he loses, it's Louis XVI, the guillotine. ”), The little man with the wet eyes could not help putting his pragmatism on the back burner when it came to football. "The French team has entered the legend of the World Cup through emotion," he reminded not without pride at Liberation at the start of the century. Before we even talk about its performance. The emotion is eternal. "Ferreri:" He always told us to have fun, to make us happy in the field. With Aimé Jacquet or Guy Roux, whom I also rubbed shoulders with, there was a greater tactical dimension. Michel was pleasure above all. "

Last tribute to the “creator of emotions”

Maybe because he could afford it, too. Relation to the magic square mentioned above, and his maestro, the other Michel (Platini), with whom he had a privileged relationship. The latter, quoted by L'Equipe , was quick to pay tribute to the mentor. “Michel, he was not a great tactician, but a man of the past, good, honest, a creator of emotions. Jean-Marc Ferreri remembers a man "of extraordinary humanity", a quality to which Platini attributes the authorship of the legendary blue quartet.

This is how he invented the famous magic square, during the 1982 World Cup: I got injured, and when I was able to play again, he did not dare to put (Jean) Tigana back on the bench , so he kept the four of us, also with Giresse and Genghini (smile). "

Michel Hidalgo loved his players to the point of not wanting to offend them, and the latter made him feel good. The link between his locker room and him has never been broken. So that last February, his former players gathered around him in Marseille to pay him a final tribute. Ferreri, moved: “I think back to the moment when he saw me and he smiled. I think he recognized us all. He spoke a little, but we felt him weakened. Above all, there were a lot of smiles. We organized this with Jean Tigana and Henri Emile, with the CIF. We thought it was a good idea to say hello to Michel, to pay him a last tribute. "

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