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In the increasingly popular section "Tribune," we offer to read an article by website visitor Giedrius about the legend of his favorite club "Manchester United" and one of the most famous players of the past decade in the English Championship, the unpredictable behavior and unique talent French striker Eric Cantona.
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Eric Cantona - "the red devil" for all times
Football is a team game, but football without personalities can become boring and dull. "Manchester United" club has never lacked prominent personalities. In the 5th decade of the last century shone G. Best, B. Charlton, D. Law, later B. Robson, M. Hughes, P. Schmeichel, R. Keane, D. Beckham, R. Giggs, R. Van Nistelrooy, and others. However, if we had to name one footballer who truly became a great "Man Utd" legend, the majority of Red Devils' fans would undoubtedly say – it is the King Eric.
Eric Cantona was born on May 24, 1966 in Paris. He started his football career at the "Auxerre" club in 1983, spending 5 years there, then briefly playing for "Marseille," "Bordeaux," "Montpellier," and "Nimes" clubs, before finally arriving in England in 1991.
Here Eric immediately gained recognition and already in his first season helped the "Leeds" club become English champions. He was an indisputable club leader, scoring 9 goals in 28 matches. After the season, most of the "Premier" League clubs paid attention to him, but the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson was the most impressed, and for a relatively small sum of 1.2 million pounds, he ended up in Manchester.
By revitalizing the club and gaining millions of fans worldwide, Eric acquired leadership qualities that were missing at "Man Utd." He had those leader attributes that the club needed, and apart from his tricks on the field, "Man Utd" fans loved him for his exceptional personality, lifestyle, and character.
Eric could party all night at bars or nightclubs, but when it came to playing, he dedicated himself one hundred percent to the team. In his career in Manchester, he won 4 "Premier" League titles and 2 FA Cups with the club. In 5 years, he played 107 matches and scored 53 goals. With Cantona, the club won their first trophies in 26 years when they won the first newly established "Premier" League champions title.
So Eric revived the club and gained millions of fans worldwide. Strangely, but only when he arrived in England did Cantona reveal all his leadership qualities, as in France no one considered him a "super" player, and because of his aggressive character, he was often criticized. Therefore, with the French national team, he never reached exceptional heights. But returning to Manchester, he played the best football of his career.
Most memorable career matches
E. Cantona played many great matches within "Man Utd." There were games where he scored 2 goals that decided the club's victory in the FA Cup final (as in 1994 against "Chelsea"), or made crucial passes to his teammates. But the matches that people still talk about today took place in January 1995. These were "Premier" League matches, "Man Utd" played away against "Crystal Palace".
In one episode, Eric lost his temper due to a series of fouls that the referee did not record, trying to take the ball from "Palace" defender Richard Shaw, he grossly fouled the latter and was sent off the field. Leaving the pitch, he heard many obscene words addressed to him from the first-row "Palace" fan Matthew Simons.
What happened later shocked even the British who had seen everything and often quarreled in the stands, Eric, Bruce Lee style, jumped into the stands with a straight kick to Matthew Simons and knocked him out. This incident later became the hottest topic of discussion in the whole of Great Britain and Europe for a good half of the year. Cantona was disqualified until the end of the season and had to perform 120 hours of public work.
After the match, in a legendary press conference, Cantona commented on the incident like this: "seagulls follow the trawler because they expect sardines to be thrown into the sea." Having said that, he stood up and left, leaving hundreds of journalists completely shocked.
After this incident, Cantona was not condemned in Manchester, on the contrary, he became a true hero for some of the club's fans.
He ended his football career very early, barely reaching 30 years. Alex Ferguson tried to convince the "King" Eric to change his mind, but he claimed that he wanted to leave at the peak of his career. Later, he played beach football, appeared in several films, participated in advertising projects. Eric has several homes in England and spends most of his time in this country.
As he himself says, he now considers himself more British than French. Manchester club fans still remember their idol, singing songs in the honor of the club, they always remember and the "King" Eric.
