On This Day – 14th February
On St Valentine’s Day 1989, 21,785 hardy fans decided against a romantic night out and plumped for an unusual friendly at Highbury between Arsenal and the French national team!
Michel Platini the French coach at the time, wanted to play a Friendly against a British team before his side headed north of the border for a crucial World Cup qualifier against Scotland. He thought that playing a club side would give him a clearer indication of how his side would play against the British game.
Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh was not particularly pleased about the friendly taking place. When asked about the match, he replied: “We are not particularly happy about this game being played.”
Platini opted for Arsenal as the opponents ahead of their fierce North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The Friendly was played during the time that English teams were banned from entering European Competitions since 1985. It was a real treat for Arsenal to get to pit their wits against Continental opposition and this didn’t go un-noticed at Highbury.
Vice-Chairman David Dein said of the game “This game is a tremendous honour for us. It is a platform for a speedy return to European football and a chance to judge how our side has matured against foreign opposition”.
Manager George Graham echoed Dein’s sentiments when asked about the opportunity for his Arsenal team to play France: “It has been a great disappointment for the players, coaches and managers not to be able to play in Europe. This will be good for Arsenal and England, All our players win benefit from playing against such a good side”.
The French side was young and relatively inexperienced. Laurent Blanc, the captain of the 1998 World Cup played the full 90 minutes. Eric Cantona was unavailable for selection as he was suspended for making offensive comments about Henri Michels, the French manager before Platini.
George Graham opted to go with a full-strength side for the friendly. There was no chance of a rest for the First Team players! In fact, the starting eleven on the night was the same that played in the previous League match at Millwall. The same team also all lined up in the next League game four days later against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.
Arsenal won the game 2-0 with goals from substitute Martin Hayes and Alan Smith who would end the season as Arsenal’s top goalscorer. Hayes’s opener came just after the hour mark and came after Arsenal had dominated the match. The Arsenal attack were continually breaking down the French defence and Smith finally sealed the win with 16 minutes of the game to go.
The match was shown live on French television and I remember my Grandad telling me that he watched the game as he was working in France at the time. He told the story that the picture wasn’t great on the television set that he was watching the game on and that the only player he could recognise was Paul Merson because of his unique style of running!
The match didn’t serve France well as they lost their World Cup Qualifier against Scotland 2-0. They didn’t qualify for the 1990 World Cup after finishing third in their qualifying group. Scotland took the second qualifying spot ahead of them in second!
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