He was nicknamed "the President" and it was moreover a President of the Republic who had to replace him. On July 12, 1998, France was world champion by defeating Brazil (3-0). In the locker room where champagne flows freely, Jacques Chirac approaches Fabien Barthez and kisses him on the skull. This gesture, which has become a ritual among the Blues, was normally performed by Laurent Blanc. But on July 12, Cévenol, suspended for stupidly falling into the trap of a Croatian provocation four days earlier, did not play in the final. In this summer of 1998, which would then cross time and imprint memories, Blanc's emotional lift seemed to be out of whack. One day guardian of the temple, another savior of the fatherland, then victim and guilty.
At the start of the World Cup, he was one of Aimé Jacquet's relays. With Marcel Desailly, he forms a central hinge like a safe lock. He is the ice with his raises and his placement when Desailly is on fire by the physical harshness of his interventions. “With Lilian Thuram and me on the sides, we were a quartet of bosses in defense, remembers Bixente Lizarazu. Laurent, like Didier (Editor's note: Deschamps) , spoke a lot on the ground. "
"But what the hell was he doing in the surface?"
It is not during the first round that Blanc gets the most value. Facing South Africa or Saudi Arabia, it is up to the French attackers to shine. Not to him. But his first day of glory, he will experience it on June 28, 1998. France faces the surprising Paraguay in the round of 16 at Lens. The heat is stifling in Félix-Bollaert. The French are paralyzed by the stake, the Paraguayans play the match of their life and camp in defense where their goalkeeper and captain, José Luis Chilavert, multiply the parades in the hope of arriving at the penalty shootout. But "the light will come from Laurent Blanc", according to the formula that has remained famous of commentator Thierry Gilardi.
"We were pushing on offense," remembers Robert Pirès. Between Youri (Djorkaeff) and David (Trezeguet), there were people in the area. Six minutes from the end of overtime, I get the ball and cross for David. I can still see him handing the ball to Laurent, who scores and qualifies because there was the golden goal rule (note: the first team to score in overtime was qualified) . I say to myself: But what the hell was he doing in the Laurent area? He shouldn't have been there! It's funny but I never thought, since, to ask him, why he was in the 18 m. "
A few seconds earlier, Blanc, who should have stayed on defense, had decided to camp in the Paraguayan area. "I can still hear Lilian Thuram screaming at him to come back," smiles Lizarazu. Because it unbalanced us in defense. But Laurent felt the trick and in the end, he delivered us. "
"We didn't have time to have compassion"
But almost two weeks after opening the doors of the quarterfinals to the Blues, Blanc will shut himself up. Against Croatia, while France, thanks to an improbable double from Thuram, reversed the situation, White, from the top of his 32 years, falls into the trap of the provocation of the defender Slaven Bilic. The latter jostles him on a fixed kick, White pushes him away with a tap on the chin. Bilic collapses while standing ... forehead. The referee, Spaniard José Garcia-Aranda, decides to expel the Frenchman. Suspended automatically for the next match, he is deprived of the final.
"We didn't have time to have compassion for him," admits Bixente. The mission was to lift the cup, not to go to the final. So, we concentrated with Thuram and Desailly to quickly ensure that Laurent's replacement, Frank Lebœuf, could be on top. And we succeeded because it was very good in the final. "
For Pirès, Blanc's expulsion is "the dark shadow of the semi-final. We can say that it is unfair and that Bilic added more, but the truth, and Laurent knows it, is that he fell into the trap when his experience should have saved him from that. And to prepare for the final, he will never share his frustration with us. On the contrary, he will step back but also talk a lot. In the locker room, before playing Brazil, I can tell you that he behaved like a point guard. "
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And when Didier Deschamps, in the grandstand, raised the World Cup, White, in tracksuit but blue jersey on the shoulders, was symbolically on his right. And Deschamps immediately sent him the trophy. "That he did not play in the final does not change anything, slices Lizarazu. There is no debate to be had. Laurent Blanc is a great world champion. "
All episodes of Fol Eté des Bleus
1. 1984, Platini in the firmament
2. 1998, White, the funny summer of the president
3. 2000, Wiltord, a truly golden goal
4. 2006, Zidane, from Olympus to darkness
5. 2016, Grizou's double hit
6. 2018, Pavard, a flight for eternity
