Laurent Blanc

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Laurent Blanc (born November 19, 1965 in Alès) is a French football defender, who scored the first golden goal in World Cup history. Blanc is considered to be one of the great centre-halves of the 90s, eclipsed only by Franco Baresi.

For France, Blanc played in Euro 92, reached the semi-finals in Euro 96, and won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He was also well-known for kissing good friend and goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's head before the start of every match, supposedly for good luck (the two did repeat this ritual when they played together for Manchester United, only for Champions League matches). Overall, he recorded 97 caps and scored 16 goals for his country, a very large number for a defender. The most important of those must be the first ever World Cup golden goal, in the second round against Paraguay on June 28, 1998. He missed the World Cup final in 1998 after being sent off in the semi-final against Croatia for elbowing Slaven Bilić, although replays showed that Bilić's reaction made the incident out to be worse than it was. The Croatian was heavily criticised afterwards.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had attempted to lure Blanc several times and finally succeeded in 2001. Despite his age of 35 years, Blanc proved a competent successor for the departed Jaap Stam and United fans nicknamed him "Larry White". He retired two years later, having helped his club to the 2003 Premier League championship.

[edit] Facts

Blanc usually wore his socks in a distinctive manner. Unlike most footballers, he preferred them to be loose and only pulled them half-way up his shin.
In his early career Blanc actually played sometimes as an attacking midfielder.

[edit] Honours

• World Cup 1998
• European Championships 2000
• Internazionale Player Of The Year 2000 (Pirata d'oro)^[1]
• English Premiership winner 2003 Manchester United F.C

	France squad - 1992 European Football Championship
1 Martini | 2 Amoros | 3 Silvestre | 4 Petit | 5 Blanc | 6 Casoni | 7 Deschamps | 8 Sauzée | 9 Papin | 10 Fernández | 11 Perez | 12 Cocard | 13 Boli | 14 Durand | 15 Divert | 16 Vahirua | 17 Garde | 18 Cantona | 19 Rousset | 20 Angloma | Coach: Platini

	France squad - 1996 European Football Championship Semi-finalists
1 Lama | 2 Angloma | 3 Di Meco | 4 Leboeuf | 5 Blanc | 6 Guérin | 7 Deschamps | 8 Desailly | 9 Djorkaeff | 10 Zidane | 11 Loko | 12 Lizarazu | 13 Dugarry | 14 Lamouchi | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Madar | 18 Pedros | 19 Karembeu | 20 Roche | 21 Martins | 22 Martini | Coach: Jacquet

	France squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Champions (1st Title)
1 Lama | 2 Candela | 3 Lizarazu | 4 Vieira | 5 Blanc | 6 Djorkaeff | 7 Deschamps | 8 Desailly | 9 Guivarc'h | 10 Zidane | 11 Pirès | 12 Henry | 13 Diomède | 14 Boghossian | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Petit | 18 Leboeuf | 19 Karembeu | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Dugarry | 22 Charbonnier | Coach: Jacquet

	France squad - 2000 European Football Championship (2nd Title)
1 Lama | 2 Candela | 3 Lizarazu | 4 Vieira | 5 Blanc | 6 Djorkaeff | 7 Deschamps | 8 Desailly | 9 Anelka | 10 Zidane | 11 Pirès | 12 Henry | 13 Wiltord | 14 Micoud | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Petit | 18 Leboeuf | 19 Karembeu | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Dugarry | 22 Ramé | Coach: Lemerre

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