Is Platini the most underrated footballer of all time?

spontaneus1

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A spin off from the Ronaldos thread. You will never hear him mentioned when talking about great players but my most measured he had an outstanding career.

Though his career after he retired might effect it too.
 

Infordin

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Platini is wildly regarded as a top 10 player ever, no?

I rate him above Zidane
 
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Halds

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Platini is wildly regarded as a top 10 player ever, no?

I rate him above Zidane
He is far from top10 in most people views, would be my guess.

Of the top of my head

Pelé
Maradona
Messi
Cristiano R
Cruyjff
Beckenbauer
Best
Eusebio
Puskas
Di Stefano
Ronaldo9
Ronaldinho
van Basten
M. Laudrup
Romario
Zidane
 

Infordin

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He is far from top10 in most people views, would be my guess.

Of the top of my head

Pelé
Maradona
Messi
Cristiano R
Cruyjff

Beckenbauer
Best
Eusebio
Puskas
Di Stefano
Ronaldo9
Ronaldinho
van Basten
M. Laudrup
Romario
Zidane
I only rate the ones in bold above Platini, everyone else is either equal or below him.

You also forgot to mention Zico, another player who I rate above the bottom 4 players on your list.
 

BillyJoel

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Best player of ever.

Then again I'm a bit hipsterish and I'm tired of professing love for Rivelino or Neeskens and still remain unappreciated at the pub, har
 

amolbhatia50k

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I only rate the ones in bold above Platini, everyone else is either equal or below him.

You also forgot to mention Zico, another player who I rate above the bottom 4 players on your list.
Don't think I've heard anyone rating him higher than Ronaldo 9.
 

Inter Yer Nan

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Depends on who you ask. If he’s not in your top 10-12 of all-time, I think your underrating him. It seems so lazy and easy to say Zizou is the greatest French player because he won the World Cup and Platini is a massive twat but Platini is definitely the better player.
 

Halds

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I only rate the ones in bold above Platini, everyone else is either equal or below him.

You also forgot to mention Zico, another player who I rate above the bottom 4 players on your list.
He could be in there.. I am not saying you're wrong, but that's pretty much how I see it myself. I really don't have much to judge on though besides watching maybe a handful of matches, so my judgement is mostly based on reputation and achievements so it is obviously up for debate. .

He won the Euros at home in 1984 and was undisputed man of the tournament. And he won the European cup at Heysel in 1985.
And then he won Ballon D'or three times in a row 83-85. More besides national honours?

It's a bit low achievement wise. And the Ballon D'ors were before non europeans were a part of it. Maradona would have swept the mid 80's.

I think there is a case to be made, that all from the list might have been the best in the world at some time, and that is not the case with Platini imo.
 

BlackShark_80

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He could be in there.. I am not saying you're wrong, but that's pretty much how I see it myself. I really don't have much to judge on though besides watching maybe a handful of matches, so my judgement is mostly based on reputation and achievements so it is obviously up for debate. .

He won the Euros at home in 1984 and was undisputed man of the tournament. And he won the European cup at Heysel in 1985.
And then he won Ballon D'or three times in a row 83-85. More besides national honours?

It's a bit low achievement wise. And the Ballon D'ors were before non europeans were a part of it. Maradona would have swept the mid 80's.

I think there is a case to be made, that all from the list might have been the best in the world at some time, and that is not the case with Platini imo.
Still doesn't mean Platini was inferior to those players, personally i rate him among the top 10 best player ever.
 

Caesar2290

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Substitute Plaitini with Zico and the answer is 100% yes.

In my opinion while Plaitini is not mentioned much, he is still pretty highly rated especially with the older generation.

Zico on the other hand is probably the most underrated player of all time.
 

Invictus

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No, not really — maybe among casual watchers who reckon Zidane and Ronaldinho are the best ever and Ramos is the equal of Baresi (don't mean this in a derisive way, mind...they are perfectly entitled to those opinions, it's just that they're not entirely reflective of the players' standing). But before the rapid ascent of Cristiano in recent years, Platini was widely in the contention for the #3 rank among European players with/after Puskás and Eusébio (and Meazza if you want to cast a wider net), so he is not particularly underrated. Most French posters also consistently rank him above Zidane and Kopa — which is worth noting.

Though I do think that he could have possibly been rated on a comparable level to Beckenbauer and Cruyff if he had played in more significant clubs than Saint-Étienne and Nancy till his late-ish 20s and managed to land France's first World Cup title as the conductor-in-chief of the Carré Magique...to go with the special 1984 European Championship title (and performance), his part in leading Juventus to the summit of continental football, the sheer consistency of his performances from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, his command/insight on the ball and set piece prowess, as well as the fact that he's one of the rare #10s that were midfielder/forward hybrids wrt. being GOAT passers/controllers and GOAT caliber scorers from the hole (most notably in Serie A where he landed 3 Capocannoniere titles on the trot...a feat matched by only overall record holder Nordahl).

On a tangential note, in terms of the linear, reductionist narrative of football: of all the players that Maradona (and his profound dribbling talents) screwed over, you could argue that Platini's legacy (and potential standing in the hall of greats) took the slightest but most poignant tumble — as he was consigned to the fate of a lesser god in the awe-inspiring presence of the Chosen One™. The momentum had been building for a while with slight sensationalism from El Gráfico and El Mundo even though Platini won 3 Ballon D'Ors on the trot — but the barricade was fully and finally torn apart after the events of 1986 (and Diego era Napoli to a lesser extent as comparisons were made between them and the star studded Juventus from the preceding period). Same goes for Zico, whom I'd rate just a smidge lower.
 

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I always rate him among top 10 GOAT.

GOAT at being a greedy bribe taking cnut. Certainly tarnished his reputation since he retired. Was a great player, but obviously a terrible person. I’d put him in top 50 players ever, certainly not top 20.
 

Halal Jalal

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In terms of French NT legacy:

Zidane > Pogba > Kante > Henry > Platini

Don't know much about his club career but it seems he was overshadowed by Maradona who played in Serie A around the same time.
 

11101

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Don't think I've heard anyone rating him higher than Ronaldo 9.
Because he's not. He's a top 20 player for sure but when you look at the names in that list above you see why. He belongs in the list but hes not near the top of it.
 

LochGormanAbú

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Ballon d'Or 83/84/85 , only underrated by the 'football didn't exist before the premiership year' brigade. Outside of that, they will have heard of Pele, Maradona and Besty who all could be argued the greatest and names transcend the game.
 

Treble

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Better than Zidane for me and arguably the best No 10 in the history of European football. He was not only a magnificent playmaker but was able to score many goals. His achievement of 9 goals in just 5 games in Euro '84 won't be beaten any time soon. For comparison, how many games have the likes of Messi and Ronnie needed to score 9 goals in the respective continental tournaments?
 
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ThierryFabregas

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Apparently in the 80s it was largely disputed who was better between Maradona and Platini up until the 1986 world cup. His goal tally as a number 10/8, his freekicks and long shots were incredibly prolific and his range of passing and vision superb, however he couldn't dribble past players like many of the greats, that would be his weakness
 

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Only seen Platini on YouTube but Zidane looked better.
 

ROFLUTION

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I see him as a Van Persie type who instead of being on top for a short time, was on top for a long period of time, which is a great feat to be at that level for a long time.

And what's up with this Zico fella?! Having not seen him, someone give me the low-down
 

Ramos

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It's weird, when Zidane was still playing nobody was saying Platini was better. It's like he got completely downgraded after people saw what CR7 and Messi could do.
 

Ainu

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In terms of French NT legacy:

Zidane > Pogba > Kante > Henry > Platini

Don't know much about his club career but it seems he was overshadowed by Maradona who played in Serie A around the same time.
I would very much contest that. Legacy isn't just measured on medals won. Platini was arguably more influential in his era of the French NT than any other player in their history (except Zidane, though more for his 2006 performance than the 98 victory), especially in their 84 Euro win where his individual dominance of the entire tournament was almost absolute. It also provided France with their very first major international victory, which is as big as it gets in terms of legacy.

Some would probably bring Kopa and Fontaine into the conversation as well.
 

JPRouve

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It's weird, when Zidane was still playing nobody was saying Platini was better. It's like he got completely downgraded after people saw what CR7 and Messi could do.
Actually in France, you won't find a lot of people arguing that Zidane is better, in fact when the conversation comes the number one isn't really a surprise. Platini is at the top.
 

Treble

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It's weird, when Zidane was still playing nobody was saying Platini was better. It's like he got completely downgraded after people saw what CR7 and Messi could do.
Not true though. Maybe nobody of the youtube generation was saying it but there was football well before that. The youtube generation venerates Laudrup who was nowhere near being the best player in the world at any moment and now you have people putting him in their top 20 of all time. He was great but not that great, imo. People tend to judge players from the older generations on the basis of video compilations and not on the basis of their performances week in week out. Video compilations can't tell the difference between someone who was playing at a top level during most of the season from someone who had absolutely brilliant moments here and there and then disappeared in crunch games.
 
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Infordin

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It's weird, when Zidane was still playing nobody was saying Platini was better.
When Zidane was playing, people were arguing that Figo was better than him. If there’s any player who’s legacy has been enhanced since retirement, it’s Zidane, not Platini.
 

Infordin

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Don't think I've heard anyone rating him higher than Ronaldo 9.
You have now.

In my opinion, Ronaldo9 tends to get overrated because people rate him based on what he could have been rather on what he actually was. Platini had a lot more world class seasons at top level than Ronaldo9 did. Platini was consistently world class for a decade.

I will not deny that R9 was a better talent, but looking at their entire careers, Platini was the better player.
 

Matt007a

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His reputation with the younger generation is probably based on his time with UEFA and the corruption scandal. He also suffered from being only the 2nd best player in the world at the time as his career crossed with Maradona. I thought he was considered to be the best ever French player with only Zidane challenging him for that crown.

He certainly put in better numbers than Zidane, but he played in a slightly more advanced role. He's definitely one of the top 10-15 players of all time I would say.
 

Ramos

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Actually in France, you won't find a lot of people arguing that Zidane is better, in fact when the conversation comes the number one isn't really a surprise. Platini is at the top.
I noticed everybody is saying that now. But at the beginning of this century they were all absolutely drooling over Zidane. Larqué, Gilardi, Roland, Wenger, Courbis ... He was like the second coming in their eyes. If Platini was mentioned back then, they were considered equals at best. I feel like opinions have shifted around a bit.
 

JPRouve

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I noticed everybody is saying that now. But at the beginning of this century they were all absolutely drooling over Zidane. Larqué, Gilardi, Roland, Wenger, Courbis ... He was like the second coming in their eyes. If Platini was mentioned back then, they were considered equals at best. I feel like opinions have shifted around a bit.
Not really, I'm talking about my childhood here and it's actually the opposite that has happpened, Zidane is getting more support now than he used to. Platini is almost a god for the people that you mentioned, they rate Zidane but Platini is on an other planet for them and they are/were biased because he is from their generation.
 

Raj70

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The reason Zico is not appreciated is he played the majority of his career in Brazil and only played in Italy in the early to mid 80's when he was past his peak, again going back to the Pele thread it's football snobbery when players are dismissed because they 'only' did it in South America. In the 1982 world cup he was superb, and watch his performance against Liverpool in the 1981 Intercontinental cup, he tore a very strong Liverpool team to shreds. He was a better player than Zidane who although brilliant is grossly overrated.
 

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I think he suffers a little because he doesn't pass the eye test with the same flying colours that most of the greats - and especially the other number 10s - do. His range of passing and set-piece ability was exceptional, but one of his greatest attributes was the timing of his runs through a packed defence. Nobody ever did it better from the middle of the park. But that's not something that translates well to a highlights summary of his career. And it doesn't give the same 'wow' factor you get when you sample Zidane's balance on the ball or Messi/Maradona/Ronaldinho's close dribbling.

His reputation with the younger generation is probably based on his time with UEFA and the corruption scandal. He also suffered from being only the 2nd best player in the world at the time as his career crossed with Maradona. I thought he was considered to be the best ever French player with only Zidane challenging him for that crown.

He certainly put in better numbers than Zidane, but he played in a slightly more advanced role. He's definitely one of the top 10-15 players of all time I would say.
That's a fair assessment.
 

JPRouve

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I think he suffers a little because he doesn't pass the eye test with the same flying colours that most of the greats - and especially the other number 10s - do. His range of passing and set-piece ability was exceptional, but one of his greatest attributes was the timing of his runs through a packed defence. Nobody ever did it better from the middle of the park. But that's not something that translates well to a highlights summary of his career. And it doesn't give the same 'wow' factor you get when you sample Zidane's balance on the ball or Messi/Maradona/Ronaldinho's close dribbling.


That's a fair assessment.
And his ability to walk into space, I'm not even kidding, the guy would walk away from man marking. Someone probably told Messi to watch Platini and learn how to walk on the pitch.
 

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Her is regarded as one of the best players ever of the sport. How can he be underrated? :p
 

Invictus

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He's definitely one of the top 10-15 players of all time I would say.
Yep! And thankfully, he's rated appropriately by most credible ranking systems/agencies as well (need updating with Messi, Cristiano, Fenómeno but fairly robust aside from that barring one of two peculiar choices because of journalistic favoritism/biases)...

From a pure talent perspective no way is Platini better than Zidane.
How would one even quantify a vague term like “talent”, though? Mind, talent is only half of it because application and execution count for a lot. Platini was for sure the better passer wrt. range and internal timing (in fact he is up there with the likes of Xavi and Cruyff when we consider the greatest and most intelligent passers of the ball), a considerably better scorer even though he played a big part in midfield and was a more calculating defensive presence than Zidane, magnificent on set pieces (surpassed by only Zico from the era), more consistent with his interpretation of space and movement from match to match. Zidane was a better technical dribbler because that wasn't Platini's forte, had marginally tighter close control (particularly when travelling with the ball), more supple — but those qualities don't make him an inherently better talent unless you place a premium on certain aspects/traits (especially those that are appealing on the eye and make the player seem more aesthetically pleasing) and downgrade the others. Even Kaká would become a better talent if we pick and choose certain parameters, and prioritizing specific aspects is unfair on players like Platini, Baresi, Müller, Xavi (who set extraordinary standards of performance for their positions but are penalized in the talent categories).
 

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No. A friend of mine who played at the bottom end of lower league football was way more underrated. Mind, he wasn’t too good, but the few who has even heard of him thought he was way worse than he actually was (OK, I’m talking about myself).
 

Schneckerl

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Yes, Top 10 player for me. Platini was able to hold his own over several league seasons to Diego Maradona (maybe even outperform him over stretches) and had the 2nd best international tournament performance I've seen. A hill I'm willing to die on is that he should be ranked ahead of Zidane on all-time lists, something that's getting rarer in recent times.

Zidane has the superior technique and is easier on the eye, but Platini was just a way bigger consistent goalscoring threat while being just as good as a playmaker.