Mickaël Landreau

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mickaël Landreau
Personal information
Full name Mickaël Landreau
Date of birth May 14, 1979
Place of birth Machecoul, France
Height 1.84 m (6' 0")
Position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Paris Saint-Germain
Number 1
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1996-2006
2006-present
Nantes
Paris Saint-Germain
335 (0)
12 (0)
National team**
2001- France 4 (0)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of November 8, 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of October 23, 2006.

Mickaël Landreau (born May 14, 1979 in Machecoul) is a French professional football (soccer) player in the position of goalkeeper, who currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain in the French Ligue 1 championship. He has played four matches for the French national team.

Landreau has good reflexes, safe hands and a character that made him team captain of childhood club FC Nantes Atlantique. Such qualities allow him to turn unfavourable conditions in his favour vis-a-vis dangerous attackers. Landreau is best known for his performances at saving penalty kicks. He has stopped more than 30 penalties in his career.

[edit] Biography

Landreau graduated from the FC Nantes Atlantique "Centre of Excellence" in La Jonelière. His first professional match for Nantes was a 0-0 draw against SC Bastia in 1996. Since 1996, he remained a mainstay in the Nantes starting line-up, and consistently produced excellent performances. He was selected to represent the France youth national team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Having won two consecutive French Cup trophies in 1999 and 2000, Landreau and Nantes were crowned 2001 Ligue 1 champions. In the semi-final of the 2004 French Cup, Landreau produced several saves, but to no avail as the team could not score and were eliminated from the competition. At the end of the 2005-06 Ligue 1 season, Landreau's contract with Nantes was set to expire. He gave a press conference and announced that after thirteen years, he would leave FC Nantes to meet new challenges in a more important team. He then joined Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on a free transfer, signing a four-years contract on May 15, 2006.

The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper and team captain was called up to the French squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by French national team manager Raymond Domenech. He wore the number 1 shirt for France at the tournament, despite being third-choice keeper behind Fabien Barthez and Grégory Coupet. Landreau is now second choice after the retirement of Barthez.

[edit] Honours

[edit] External links

France France squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Runners-up France

1 Landreau | 2 Boumsong | 3 Abidal | 4 Vieira | 5 Gallas | 6 Makélélé | 7 Malouda | 8 Dhorasoo | 9 Govou | 10 Zidane | 11 Wiltord | 12 Henry | 13 Silvestre | 14 Saha | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Givet | 18 Diarra | 19 Sagnol | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Chimbonda | 22 Ribéry | 23 Coupet | Coach: Domenech

Paris Saint-Germain - Current Squad

1 Landreau | 4 Rozehnal | 5 Mendy | 6 Yepes | 7 Pancrate | 8 Cissé | 9 Pauleta | 11 Diané | 13 Frau | 14 N'Gog | 15 Kalou | 16 Alonzo | 17 Traoré | 18 Pietre | 21 Rodriguez | 22 Armand | 24 Hellebuyck | 25 Rothen | 26 Drame | 27 Baning | 28 César | 30 Cousin