French artist Claude Monet once said, “Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” Replace “colour” with “scoring goals”, and you could easily imagine Jean-Pierre Papin saying the same thing.
As a player, ‘JPP’ would stay behind after training for 45 minutes to fire 200 shots at goal.
His obsession with hitting the back of the net saw him secure his place in the annals of French football history after a storied career with Olympique Marseille, for whom he notched 182 goals in 275 matches, and at international level, with 30 goals in 54 appearances for France.
In an exclusive interview with FIFA, Papin, 62, looked back on the 1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico™, a tournament in which he left his mark on an entire generation of fans as Les Bleus secured a podium finish.
Jean-Pierre Papin: First of all, I still believe that I shouldn’t even have been in the squad. A combination of circumstances took me to Mexico. I assumed I wouldn’t get the nod because I didn’t have the necessary experience, but Jose Toure ruptured his cruciate just a few days before Henri named his squad. I was playing for Club Brugge at the time, and we were still in the running for the league title. On the day of the announcement, I was having dinner at a friend’s house and I stepped out to listen to the radio in my car. The last name announced was mine. It was unbelievable, an incredible opportunity.
I was so fortunate to have the chance to play with my hero. As a kid, I had a poster of him on my wall, and I’d stuck his autograph on it. You can’t put a price on playing with your idol! In fact, it was one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. Playing with your idol is a privilege. My game was all about running in behind defences, and he loved that. When you’ve got someone like him playing behind you, all you have to do is make your runs because you know that the ball will come to your feet or, better still, be played just in front of you. That feeling of playing with him… it was just incredible.
Before that match, we played a friendly against Guatemala at our training centre. We won 8-1 and I scored twice. Maybe that’s what got me into the starting line-up against Canada. I scored the only goal of the game in the 79th minute, and that’s my best memory of the match (laughs). My big regret is knowing I should have finished top scorer in the competition on the back of that match alone. I was wasteful beyond belief. People remember my goal, but I had five other easy chances and if I’d put them all away, I’d have finished as top scorer. I’m still disappointed to this day.
Yes, I started against the Russians. That was a very complicated, very even match. We drew 1-1, and I played much better. I felt more comfortable. Before the game, a lot of the players came up to talk to me, so I wasn’t worried; I was happy to be there because I thought I could score. I’d already scored past Rinat Dasayev in the European Cup, but in that match he pulled off a miraculous save from a diving header from just five metres out. I still don’t know how he did it.
Against Hungary, our last match of the group stage, I played 60 minutes and was distinctly average. Of all the matches I played for Les Bleus, that was one of my most mediocre performances. I deserved to be pulled off on the hour mark. Dominique Rocheteau came on for me and scored almost immediately, so you can probably guess what happened after that.
No, to be honest, I actually enjoyed being out of the team! With France, the most important thing is always the squad, not the 11 who start. Sometimes you’re a starter, sometimes you’re not. But in a group with such strength in depth, it’s normal. The more knockout matches we played, the more emphasis the coach placed on experience.
Of course. We beat Italy 2-0 comfortably. We regained our status as favourites. We went into the dressing room, sang and danced, and said ‘Let’s go again in five days’ time!’ And what a game that was!
That was the match that left the biggest impression on me. I saw everything I loved about football: a stadium packed with 90,000 fans, two huge teams, total football from both sides, unforgettable moments like Careca opening the scoring for Brazil, an injured Platini equalising but missing his penalty, Bruno Bellone’s spot-kick hitting the post and then the keeper’s head before going in, Zico missing a penalty with 15 minutes to go… Normally you’d never see those things, but on that day I saw it all.
I think it just boiled down to experience and freshness. We were a little bit tired. They were fresher and much more experienced at that stage of the competition. In the end, though, there was hardly anything to separate the two sides. Andreas Brehme’s free kick squeezed underneath Joel [Bats], which usually never happened. The smallest of details won the match, as is so often the case in football.
I knew practically half the Belgian team because I had played with them for Brugge. We beat them 4-2 and finished third. All those who had not played, or had played very little were picked for that match. The Belgians were at full strength, and we were desperate to win because we thought we deserved to be world champions. We said to ourselves that, at worst, it’d be great to finish third, which we did.
