Fabien Barthez

Fabien Alain Barthez (born 28 June 1971) is a French racing driver and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

At club level, he played football in both France and England with Toulouse, Marseille, Monaco, Manchester United and Nantes.

Barthez made his first division debut for Toulouse on 21 September 1991, against Nancy.

He joined Marseille in 1992, and won both the French championship and the Champions League at the end of his first season in Marseille, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory over Milan in final of the latter competition.

In club football, he won the UEFA Champions League with Olympique Marseille in 1993 as well as several Ligue 1 and Premier League titles.

The 1993 victory made him the youngest goalkeeper to win a Champions League title until Iker Casillas did so in 2000.

Marseille, however, would be stripped of their domestic title, though not of the Champions League crown, due to their involvement in a domestic match fixing scandal, and a year later (1994) would suffer a forced relegation to the second division due to a related financial bankruptcy.

He stayed with the club in Division 2 for the 1994–95 season, despite many offers from elite French clubs, helping Marseille to the title and to earn promotion to the first division.

In 1995, Barthez joined AS Monaco and won Ligue 1 titles in 1997 and 2000.

At international level, he played for the France national team, with whom he won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000 and the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, representing his nation at a total of three editions of both the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship; he also reached the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, after which he retired from international football.

Nicknamed Le Divin Chauve ("The Divine Bald One"), due to his trademark shaved head, Barthez was France's most capped player in the FIFA World Cup, with 17 appearances at the finals and shares the record for the most World Cup finals clean sheets with Peter Shilton, with ten.

He also played in Jean Tigana's talented Monaco side, which famously put his future club Manchester United out of the Champions League in 1998 on away goals after a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford.

As a result of Barthez's success in the World Cup and the Euros, he caught the attention of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who was searching for a star goalkeeper to replace the recently departed Peter Schmeichel, as Ferguson did not think that the previous season's goalkeeper, Mark Bosnich, was a long-term replacement.

Barthez joined United for £7.8 million in 2000.

Very often, it was critical saves that kept United from defeat or dropping valuable points, helping United to the 2000–01 FA Premier League title, their third in a row.

He was later reunited with national teammate Laurent Blanc, who joined United in 2001.

The Barthez–Blanc head-kissing ritual was performed at the start of Champions League matches.

Well known for being eccentric, Barthez started out well for Manchester United.

His first season was a triumph as he answered all the questions about how he would handle rainy Manchester compared to sunny Monaco.

Barthez performed brilliantly throughout the season and became a crowd favourite.

The fans loved his eccentric behaviour, his taunting dribbles and step-overs past opposing strikers, and most importantly, his remarkable reaction saves.

A memorable incident happened when Manchester United faced Leeds United in March 2001.

After dropping a cross from Robbie Keane, Barthez deliberately kicked out with his foot at Ian Harte, who fell to the ground on the edge of six yard box, and the referee awarded a penalty to Leeds.

Harte stepped up but Barthez made a low, one-handed save to his right.

The only blemish in his first season was his failed attempt at "psyching out" West Ham United's Paolo Di Canio in the FA Cup Fourth Round; Di Canio beat the offside trap, while Barthez stood still with his hand up expecting the referee to blow his whistle, or Di Canio to stop.

Di Canio continued and scored the only goal of the game, and later said it was "better to score and then see whether the goalkeeper is right or wrong".

The 2001–02 season was split into two parts for him.

The first half was tumultuous.

The Frenchman seemed to be taking some unnecessary risks outside his penalty area, and his antics began to have consequences that allowed unneeded goals for opposing teams.

He was at fault for two goals in a 3–2 home defeat by Deportivo de La Coruña in October 2001.

Ferguson said how "eventually he will get caught out" and it wouldn't happen again.

But another couple of late errors against Arsenal in a 3–1 defeat at Highbury the following month put much pressure on Barthez, with two goals gifted to Thierry Henry, one of which came from a mis-hit clearance.

Barthez was at the centre of further controversy when, after already being on a yellow card following an argument with Matthew Upson, he was caught by television cameras raising his middle fingers behind his back towards the Arsenal supporters, who had been taunting him for his errors towards the end of the match; the incident was missed by the referee Peter Jones, however.

There was much speculation as to what was the source of Barthez's decline, and critics such as the BBC's Phil McNulty urged him to be dropped.

Sir Alex Ferguson, however, had faith in his goalkeeper, and stuck by him.

Consequently, in the second half of the season, Barthez repaired his reputation with consistent, solid performances and the spectacular saves that he was famous for.

His turn in fortunes was shown in a 2–2 draw with Derby County at Pride Park.

Derby forward Malcolm Christie looked to have sealed his hat-trick, but referee Steve Dunn controversially disallowed the goal, ruling that Christie kicked the ball out of Barthez's hands.

After retiring from football in 2007, Barthez began a career in motorsport in 2008.

Barthez was born in Lavelanet, Ariège.