Fabien Barthez
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Fabien Alain Barthez (born 28 June 1971) is a French football player, the current goalkeeper for the French Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille. With the French national team, he won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000.
Career
Olympique Marseille
Born in Lavelanet, Ariège, Barthez made his first division debut for Toulouse on 21 September 1991, against Nancy. He joined Olympique Marseille in 1992, and won both the French championship and the Champions League at the end of his first season in Marseille. His performance in the final against A.C. Milan was one of the best ever seen for a goalkeeper, and the victory made him the youngest goalkeeper to win a Champions League title until Iker Casillas did so in 2000.However, OM would be stripped of their domestic title, though not of the Champions League crown, due to their involvement in a domestic match fixing scandal, and a year later (1994) would suffer a forced relegation to the second division due to a related financial bankruptcy. His 93-94 season is seen by many as his best in the Championnat, his many saves and the goalscoring quality of Sonny Anderson allowed l'OM to finish second this year. He stayed with his club for one season in Division 2 despite many offers from elite French clubs (like Monaco).
In 1995, Barthez joined AS Monaco and won the French title in 1997 and 2000.
1998 World Cup
On 26 May 1994, he won his first cap for France against Australia.In the 1998 World Cup which was hosted by his home country, Barthez conceded two goals in seven games and bagged the Yashin Award as the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Barthez was also well-known during the tournament for letting teammate and good friend Laurent Blanc kiss his head before the start of every match, supposedly for good luck. Moreover, Barthez played an integral part of his national team's inaugural triumph which was also the first time in 20 years that a host had won the World Cup; the highlight being the 3-0 shutout of defending champions Brazil in the finals.
Two years later, Barthez was again the starter as his country won Euro 2000. It was the first time in over twenty years that a national team held both the World Cup and Euro titles, a feat last accomplished by West Germany in 1974. After that triumph, France held the top position in the FIFA World Rankings system from 2001-2002.
He played on France's World Cup team again in 2002 in which they exited in the first round without winning a game or scoring a goal. He was also the starter in Euro 2004, when they were knocked out in the quarterfinals.
Manchester United
He joined Manchester United for £7.8 million in 2000 and won English Premier League championships with United in 2001 and 2003.Well-known for being eccentric, he started out well for Manchester United. His first season was a triumph as he answered all the questions about how he would handle rainy Manchester compared to sunny Monaco. Barthez performed brilliantly throughout the season and became a real favourite with the fans. The fans loved his eccentric behaviour, his taunting dribbles and step-overs past opposing strikers, not to mention most importantly, those awesome reaction saves. Very often was it was critical saves that kept United from defeat or dropping valuable points. During his first season, he backstopped United to the 2000-2001 Premier League championship.
The 2001-2002 season was split into two parts for him. In the first half he had a nightmare. The Frenchman had always been outlandish but he seemed to be taking more risks outside his penalty area, more dribbling, more clowning than goalkeeping. Against Arsenal he made two critical errors which gave Arsenal a 3-1 win, at Anfield he gifted Liverpool a goal from a fumbled cross and at home to Deportivo made two crazy mix-ups with Wes Brown giving the Spaniards two goals.
There was much speculation as to what was the source of Barthez's decline, critics urged him to be dropped and there was talk of United selling him. However, Sir Alex Ferguson had faith in his goalkeeper and stuck by him. Consequently in the second half of the season, Barthez repaired his reputation with consistent, solid performances and the spectacular saves that he was famous for.
In 2002-2003 Fabien helped United create the best defensive record in the Premiership wth a more steady approach, which led to another Premiership crown. One highlight was a fabulous save to deny Deitmar Hamann's 30 yard rocket at Anfield as United held on to win 2-1. On the downside, the Frenchman seemed to pick up a lot of injuries, noticeably in games which he had just conceded a goal. Numerous blunders, including a notorious one against Deportivo La Coruña, Anderson, D. (2001). [Manchester United 2:3 Deportivo La Coruna.] RedCafe.net - Unofficial Manchester United Website. Retrieved on July 6, 2006. has led to people making many jokes about him. Barthez was also widely criticised in United's exit to Real Madrid in the Champions League, especially for Ronaldo's opener which beat him to the near post. It would prove to be his last ever game with United as Sir Alex Ferguson's patience had finally run out. Barthez was dropped for the final 3 games of the season.
Return to Olympique Marseille
In October 2003, after American newcomer Tim Howard won the starting goalkeeper's job from Barthez, United agreed to release Barthez from his contract at Old Trafford after the 2003-04 season, and also agreed to loan Barthez out to Olympique Marseille for the remainder of that season. However, FIFA blocked the loan deal on the grounds that it was not agreed upon within the international transfer window. The two clubs agreed on a loan deal after the transfer window reopened on 1 January 2004, and Barthez joined Olympique Marseille soon afterwards. On 27 April, Olympique de Marseille and Barthez agreed to a two-year contract which will keep him at the club until spring 2006.Barthez was recently involved in a controversy due to his actions during a friendly match between OM and Morocco's Raja Casablanca on 12 February 2005. With 10 minutes left, an OM player was sent off, and a brawl erupted between players on the pitch. Barthez was reported for spitting on the Moroccan referee. On 21 April, Barthez was summoned to a hearing before the disciplinary committee of the French Football Federation; the following day, he received a six-month suspension, with the last three months being suspended. In an unusual move, the federal council of the FFF appealed the suspension, arguing that the punishment should have been for a minimum of six full months. Eventually, his suspension was extended to six full months due to political pressures.
2006 World Cup
His placement as starting goalkeeper on France's 2006 World Cup Squad, despite a substantial public campaign in support of Gregory Coupet, was surprising to many. The move was viewed by some as a desire to keep the old champions of France's 1998 World Cup victory on the team. Despite a slow start in the group stage, Barthez's team won their final round robin match to advance to the next stage, where they upset heavily favoured Spain 3-1 in the round of 16.In defeating Brazil, 1-0 on July 1, 2006, Barthez - having made only one save in the game - became the first keeper to blank the Brazillian team in consecutive World Cup finals matches, the first being the 1998 final (3-0). France is now one of only two nations (along with Argentina) to have shut Brazil out twice in the World Cup finals, and the first to have done it in consecutive matches, both times with Barthez in goal.
Barthez again kept a clean sheet in the semi-final against Portugal as Zinedine Zidane's penalty shot stood as the winning goal. Memorable was near the end of the game when a French defender fumbled the ball, enabling a Portuguese player to mount a last moment attack. Barthez scrambled out of the net and blocked the first shot; a linesman later ruled that the Portuguese player had been offside.
During the final against Italy, Barthez briefly captained his team after Zidane was sent off. During the penalty shootout, teammate David Trézéguet's missed shot would prove decisive as Barthez and his Italian counterpart Gianluigi Buffon did not make a save.
Reference
External links
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