February 20, 1991
France 3-Spain 1
UEFA European Championship Qualifying -Group 1
Venue: Paris -Parc des Princes
Attendance: 41,174
Referee: Tulio Lanese (Italy)
Goalscorers: (France): Sauzee 14- Papin 58- Blanc 77
(Spain): Bakero 10
Lineups:
France:
1-Bruno Martini (Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise) [14 caps / 0 goals]
2-Manuel Amoros (Olympique de Marseille) [71 caps / 1 goals]
4-Basile Boli (Olympique de Marseille) [26 caps / 1 goals]
5-Laurent Blanc (Montpellier-Hérault Sports Club) [14 caps / 3 goals]
3-Bernard Casoni (Olympique de Marseille) [16 caps / 0 goals]
8-Frank Sauzee (Association Sportive de Monaco) [19 caps / 3 goals]
6-Bernard Pardo (Olympique de Marseille) [13 caps / 0 goals] (15-Luis Fernandez (Association Sportive de Cannes Football) [49 caps / 5 goals] 51)
7-Jean-Philippe Durand (Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club) [11 caps / 0 goals]
9-Jean-Pierre Papin (Olympique de Marseille) [28 caps / 11 goals]
11-Eric Cantona (Olympique de Marseille) [17 caps / 10 goals]
10-Pascal Vahirua (Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise) [7 caps / 0 goals] (13-Didier Deschamps (Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club) [12 caps / 3 goals] 82)
Coach: Michel Platini
Booked: Casoni 17-Pardo 43
Other Subs:
16-Gilles Rousset (Olympique Lyonnais)
12-Jocelyn Angloma (Paris Saint-Germain Football Club)
14-Christophe Cocard (Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise)
Team Captain: Manuel Amoros
Official Kit Supplier/Designer: AdidasUniform Colors: Blue Shirts, White Shorts, Red Socks
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| Photo : from Onze-Mondial, March 1991 |
Spain:
1- Andoni ‘Zubizarreta’ Urreta (Fútbol Club Barcelona) [59 caps / 0 goals]
3- Enrique ‘Quique’ Sanchez Flores (Valencia Club de Fútbol) [15 caps / 0 goals]
2- Fernando ‘Nando’ Munoz Garcia (Fútbol Club Barcelona) [5 caps / 0 goals]
4- Juan Francisco ‘Juanito’ Rodriguez Herrera (Club Atlético de Madrid) [3 caps / 1 goals]
5-‘Manuel Sanchis’ Hontiyuelo (Real Madrid Club de Fútbol) [40 caps / 1 goals]
8- José Miguel ‘Michel’ Martín del Campo (Real Madrid Club de Fútbol) [54 caps / 18 goals]
10- Guillermo ‘Amor’ Martinez (Fútbol Club Barcelona) [4 caps / 1 goals]
11-‘Juan Vizcaino’ Morcillo (Club Atlético de Madrid) [2 caps / 0 goals] (14-Miguel ‘Soler’ Sarasols (Fútbol Club Barcelona) [8 caps / 0 goals] 60)
9-‘Emilio Butragueno’ Santos (Real Madrid Club de Fútbol) [59 caps / 26 goals] (16-Manuel ‘Manolo’ Sanchez Delgado (Club Atlético de Madrid) [18 caps / 7 goals] 74)
6- Jose Maria ‘Bakero’ Escudero (Fútbol Club Barcelona) [15 caps / 5 goals]
7- Juan Antonio ‘Goicoechea’ Lasa (Fútbol Club Barcelona) [6 caps / 0 goals]
Coach: Luis ‘Suarez’ Miramontes
Booked: Vizacaino 44
Other Subs:
13-Juan Carlos ‘Abladeno’ Iglesias (Real Sporting de Gijón)
12-Rafael ‘Alkorta’ Martinez (Athletic Club de Bilbao)
15-Carlos’ Antonio Munoz Cobo (Real Oviedo Club de Futbol)
Team Captain: ‘Emilio Butragueno’ Santos
Official Kit Supplier/Designer: Le Coq Sportif
Uniform Colors: Red Shirts, Blue Shorts, Black Socks
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Photo From: Todo Sobre La Seleccion Espanola, Felix Martialay, 2006 |
Notes:
-Match number 492 for France and number 355 for Spain.
-France qualified from this European Championship qualifying group. This loss effectively eliminated Spain from the 1992 UEFA Euro Finals. The last Tournament Spain had failed to qualify was the 1974 World Cup.
-Spain would lose its two next friendlies in the coming months (March 27, 1991, Hungary 2-4 loss) and (April 17, 1991, Romania 0-2 loss).
As a result on April 30, 1991, Luis Suarez was dismissed as national team manager.
-The previous match between the two nations as well as the previous match in France was a 2-1 French win on March 23, 1988 Friendly at Bordeaux.
France players: Amoros, Boli, Fernandez, Durand, Papin, Cantona, and Martini (Unused Substitute) and Spain players: Zubizaretta, Sanchis, Soler, Michel, Butragueno and Bakero were the players still remaining from that match.
Luis Fernanadez captained and scored one of France’s goals.
Spain’s Soler entered as a substitute in both matches.
-Spain’s previous victory over France was a 1-0 Friendly win on February 18, 1981 at Madrid.
No players who were present in this match took part in that one.
French manager Platini was one of the players involved.
-France’s previous victory over Spain in Paris was a 2-0 win in UEFA Euro Championships Final on June 27, 1984.
French players: Amoros and Fernandez were the players still remaining from that match.
French manager Platini scored in that match.
-The next match between the two nations would be the return leg of the qualifier on October 12, 1991 at Seville.
France won this match 2-1 and became the first team since 1923 to defeat Spain in Seville.
France players: Martini, Blanc, Angloma, Casoni, Boli, Amoros, Deschamps, Fernandez, Durand, Papin, Cantona and French unused Subs: Rousset, Cocard and Vahirua and Spain players: Zubizaretta, Sanchis, Vizcaino, Manolo and Butragueno were the players still remaining from that match.
Papin once again scored for and Fernandez also scored for France.
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| Photo : from Onze-Mondial, March 1991 |
-Spain’s next victory over France would be a 2-1 Friendly win on March 28, 2001 at Valencia.
No players who were present in this match took part in that one.
-This was the last match between the two nations at Paris’ Parc des Princes.
Starting 1998 in preparations for the World Cup in France, Stade de France in Saint Denis near Paris would become France National team’s official home venue. Coincidentally the inauguartion match would be vs. Spain (1-0 win) on January 28, 1998.
France players: Blanc and Deschamps Spain players: Zubizaretta and Amor were the players still remaining from that match.
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| Photo : from Onze-Mondial, March 1991 |
-The only players who became national team managers were Frenchmen Blanc and Fernandez.
Blanc is the current national team manger of France.
Fernandez is the current national team manger of Israel.
-Spain’s Rafael Martin Vasquez was unavailable for this match. He would eventually join France’s Olympique Marseille for 1992-93 season .
He would be teammates at OM with Amoros, Boli, Cssoni, Sauzee, Durand, Deschamps and Angloma.
- Frenchman Christian Perez was unavailable for this match.
Frenchman Philippe Vercruysse of Olympique Marseille, who was thought to be in Platini’s plans, also was injured by the time the match took place.
-The following French players played in the Spanish La Liga in their careers :Laurent Blanc (Barcelona), Deschamps and Angloma (both Valencia).
Luis Fernandez managed Athletic Bilbao and Real Betis.
-Laurent Blanc became teammates at FC Barcelona with Amor and Bakero.
-None of the players in either team were playing for foreign clubs.
-Emilio Butragueno and Jean-Pierre Papin became their respective league’s top goalscorer that season.
-This was France’s fourth straight victory in their qualifying group. They went on to win all eight matches.
-France had been unbeaten since losing to Yugoslavia 2-3 on November 16, 1988. Their next loss would be on February 19, 1992 vs. England 0-2. A Nineteen match unbeaten streak.
-Both managers were former Ballon d’Or winners. Luis Suarez in 1960 and Platini in 1983,1984 and 1985.
Both were UEFA European Championship winners. Suarez in 1964 and Paltini in 1984.
Both played in Italy’s Serie A, Suarez with Internazionale Milano FC and Platini with Juventus FC Torino.
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| Photo : from Onze-Mondial, March 1991 |
-Frenchman Eric Cantona started this match and the following versus Albania, despite not being a regular player for his club Olympique de Marseille.
-This was Frenchman Bernard Pardo’s last match for France. Within weeks of this match, he was injured and missed the rest of the season. He never fully recovered and eventually retired injured.
-Four days after this match, on February 24, 1991, former Spanish international Hector Rial passed away.
-Both Fernandez and Amoros had Spanish ancestory. In fact Fernandez had obtained French Citizenship in his teens.
Bernard Pardo’s father and Cantona’s mother also had Spanish origins. As well as abscent Christian Perez’s grandparents.
-France played a 4-3-3 formation.
France changed defensive tactical formation in the second half. Boli started the match as right back, but in the second half played in the center and man-marked Butragueno instead of Goicoetchea. In the second half Amoros played as right back and marked Goicoetchea and Casoni marked Bakero.
-Afterwards, French manager Platini admitted that the score did not reflect the difference between the teams and that Spain was one of the best teams that France had played in a while.
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