European Player Of The Year

European Player of the Year. The usual vote resulted in familiar by now no-contest: one player was practically out of any even remote competition.

Michel Mlatini got 110 points. Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool, Scotland) was second with 26 and Alan Simonsen (Vejle, Denmark) – third with 25 points.

Introducing Platini is pointless – he was already superstar and everybody knows of him, for good or bad, today. But this was the first time he was voted the best European player. And was it right decision? This time it was, after years of detected doubtful choices. Yet, there was something a bit bitter… that there were few really outstanding players in Europe was noticed for some time. Football changed, so individuals did not shine as much as they did before 1970. And there was decreasing number of incredible talent – whether it was just a freak of nature, or a result of uniformed training and molding was open to debate, no matter how futile such debate, but the fact remained. Platini belonged to almost forgotten by now category of true stars and was at his peak – 28-years old, and just joined Juventus, thus able to play for outstanding club, where his talent was going to fully flourish. Platini was pretty much alone, though – inconsistent or outright bad form, age, injuries, conflicts with coaches, difficult adaptation to new environment reduced the possible rivals to none. Instead, oldish players got votes – and let see why. Kenny Dalglish, already 32, had disastrous year with Liverpool and also his play did not improve, nor was going to improve at this age – he already reached the peak of his abilities, but remarkably stayed at his peak for years. Consistency was the key: even when Liverpool played poorly, Dalglish was not to blame. Compared to other current stars, he was quite obvious choice, for they were excellent this year. Alan Simonsen, 31 and no longer interesting for big clubs – released from Barcelona, he played a bit in English Second Division, and returned home to play for Vejle, which was not just going downhill, but rather signaled approaching retirement. But he was still the key player for the national team of Denmark, which was rapidly rising and got many praises – riding on that, Simonsen came back. He was seen as the motor of the new bright Danish squad.

Meantime others had difficulties – Breitner and K.-H. Rummenigge were clearly not the same, Schuster were more in the new for conflicts than for brilliant performance, Gerets got involved in bribing scandal, Boniek had difficulty finding his place in Juventus – what looked like lethal duo, a dream for many a coach – Platini-Boniek – was not exactly dynamite. However, Platini still played better and something almost forgotten happened: the top European player was not playing for a winning club. Juventus lost the title in 1982-83 and also the European Champions Cup final. France had no official games, for they were hosting the 1984 European Championship and did not have to go the trials of qualification. Ir was overall performance, with minor problems and more brilliant ones, which made everybody seeing Platini as the best.

And since the player of the year was decided at the end of the year, the new season was already in full swing – this time Platini and Juventus got together well, it was strong and recent finish. Well deserved award, although some felt it was coming a bit late and Platini was overlooked in the last 2-3 years. As for him, when he was asked who he thinks best, it was Bryan Robson of Manchester United. The specialists placed him 10th with 13 points… and the overwhelming winner thought this lowly creature better than anyone better than Platini.