France finds Portugal on Wednesday for the last day of the group stage of Euro 2020. Before this decisive match, Europe 1 looks back on the meetings between the two nations in a European championship.
First episode: the delivery of the semi-final of 1984, won by France in overtime (3-2).
There are victories that turn the page of the past. The mythical elimination of the French team in the semi-final of the 1982 World Cup against the FRG, marked by the attack of the German goalkeeper Schumacher on the French Battiston (3-3, 5-4 tab), is still in everyone's mind on June 23, 1984. France organized the Euro and its team played in the semi-final at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille against Portugal. A shock for the Blues of Michel Platini in search of a first international consecration in the tricolor jersey and who manage to qualify for the final at the end of the suspense in overtime (3-2 ap), in front of nearly 55,000 spectators, a record in Marseille at the time.
The supporters of the France team remember a dantesque scenario, and the double of the French defender Jean-François Domergue, his only two goals in selection.
Europe 1 invites you to retrace this match on the occasion of the reunion between the two nations on Wednesday for the last day of the group stage of Euro 2020.
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Domergue's free kick, the first stroke of glory
The France-Portugal poster is still unprecedented in the history of major football competitions. The French coach Michel Hidalgo lines up the "magic square" in the midfield, made up of Jean Tigana, Luis Fernandez, Alain Giresse and his captain Michel Platini. A formidable team that challenges an experienced Seleção das quinas, all of whose players play in the Portuguese league.
In front of a cheering audience since the start of the match, playmaker Michel Platini gets a free kick in the axis 25 meters from the goals of Portuguese goalkeeper Manuel Bento.
Several French players position themselves in front of the ball.
While he is the great specialist, the number 10 of the Blues leaves at the last moment left-handed defender Jean-François Domergue to execute the free kick.
The ball goes full force to the right of the keeper, who had anticipated a strike over the Portuguese wall on his left side.
The France team leads 1-0 and believes to hold its qualification in the final.
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An unsustainable extension
The Blues then waste scoring opportunities, and are finally joined at the end of the second half on a header from Portuguese striker Jordao. The France team must play its first minutes of extra time in the competition, and is surprised at the outset by the volley of the Portuguese center-forward, author of his second goal in the match (1-2).
Close to elimination in front of their home crowd, the French team managed to come back to Portugal six minutes from the end of the match thanks to the opportunism of Jean-François Domergue. The defender takes a ball in the penalty area while Michel Platini seemed hooked by a Portuguese defender (2-2). Hope is reborn in the bays of the Vélodrome. The highlight of the show comes from the tricolor midfielder Jean Tigana, author of a race of 30 meters on the right side before centering back for his captain Michel Platini who only has to deceive the goalkeeper of the Seleção das quinas, and so deliver a whole country (3-2).
Nothing can stop Michel Platini's teammates who are heading straight for a first international title for France, after their success in the final against Spain (2-0). This first confrontation with Portugal was foundational in the history of the France team, which will meet again with the Seleção at Euro 2000, again in the semi-finals, in Brussels.