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6 avril 2018
The Toulon Tournament’s most memorable moments : 1985, when Jean-Pierre Papin left his mark on the Toulon Tournament history (4/16)
"It was the first time that I was taking the plane to come to Toulon, and it also was my first cap with France. It's a lot of memorable scenes in my head. In little time, plenty of things happened", was remembering Jean-Pierre Papin when he evoked the 1985 Toulon Tournament in a interview for our website. And he was right, as Papin and his teammates did a wonderful path this year. Flashback.
Les Bleuets, who won the title the year before, led by Papin and other future international players as Franck Sauzée or Gérald Passi, managed to achieve a perfect group round: after they beat Ivory Coast (3-1), French also defeated Romania in Toulon (2-0). Before that, they took advantage over Spain (1-0) in Marseille. This game is still in the memories today, thanks to a fantastic goal netted by the number 14... Jean-Pierre Papin!
Line-ups of France-Spain game during 1985 Toulon Tournament
"I still have this goal against Spain in video and I often watch it. I left from our camp and received a pass in front of me. The action ended by a shot in the opposite top corner. It was my first goal in Stade Vélodrome. However, I didn't know yet I will score a lot in this stadium!", laughed the former international French player (54 caps, 30 goals).
After a group round perfectly handled, France won the Tournament over England in final (3-1). In his side, JPP (his nickname) scored another goal against the Three Lions and won the top scorer competition award.
We know what happened next: the Boulogne-sur-Mer born rised and became a real legend of Olympique de Marseille. Between 1986 and 1992, Papin won the French League four times and finished as the French League's top scorer five times. At the peak of his career, he even won the Ballon d'Or on 1991!
His many spectacular volleys, called "papinade", stay fixed forever in the memories. And the history will retain that his first "papinade" in Stade Vélodrome was the one he did against Spain during the 1985 Toulon Tournament...
READ ALSO :
The Toulon Tournament’s most memorable moments : 1975, the Argentina of Daniel Passarella clinched the title (1/16)
The Toulon Tournament’s most memorable moments : 1982, the emergence of the Koeman brothers (2/16)
The Toulon Tournament’s most memorable moments : 1983, an epic final between Argentina and Brazil (3/16)
Amayes Brahmi
