Bernard Lacombe, former international footballer and European champion with the Blues in 1984, has died at the age of 72.

Bernard Lacombe died at the age of 72 on Tuesday, June 17, Olympique Lyonnais (OL) announced, the club of which he was a legend. "It is with immense sadness that we learned this Tuesday evening of the death of Bernard Lacombe. All our thoughts go out to his family and loved ones, but also to the lovers of Olympique Lyonnais and football. Farewell Bernard, you were our legend, the greatest of all," the club wrote on the social network X.

A French international with 38 caps and 12 goals, he won Euro 1984 with Les Bleus, which was played on home soil. The striker played for Lyon between 1969 and 1978 – as well as for Saint-Étienne and Bordeaux – and then held the position of sporting director, coach and finally long-standing advisor to President Jean-Michel Aulas until 2019. “Bernard, my brother. How sad!” , the latter wrote on Instagram, paying tribute in particular to “a tremendous footballer”. “You gave us so much: OL, the French team, but also to all those who had the chance to know you,” added Mr. Aulas. “I learned everything about football from you. And much more,” concludes the tribute from the former Lyon president.

It was at OL that the bonds were the strongest, as Bernard Lacombe experienced all the roles, from player to manager, in what he described as "his favorite club forever" . Arriving at OL in 1967, at the age of 15, from the Fontaines-sur-Saône sports club (Rhône), and playing for the professionals for the first time at the age of 17, on December 7, 1969, against Red Star, with a goal to the key (2-0 victory), Bernard Lacombe left for the first time in 1978. Ten years later, he returned, this time in the staff and management, until 2019.

Jean-Michel Aulas, who took over the Rhône club in June 1987 after it had been languishing in the ^second division since 1983, had wanted to bring together Raymond Domenech, another local figure, who had been appointed coach, and Bernard Lacombe, assistant and sporting director, to help the Lyon team return to the top flight. Promotion was achieved in the spring of 1989. OL then returned to Europe and grew to dominate French football in the 2000s.

Bernard Lacombe quickly became sporting director, then coach (1996-2000) and notably obtained two third-place finishes in Ligue 1 and a UEFA Cup quarter-final, before taking a higher position as advisor to the president until 2017, then withdrawing from the club in 2019. During a ceremony in his honor, Jean-Michel Aulas described him as "a good man, because he leaves a lasting mark."

This legacy includes the recruitment of Lyon figures such as Sonny Anderson, Edmilson, Michael Essien, Mahamadou Diarra and, above all, Juninho, who contributed to the glorious period of Lyon, seven times French champion (from 2002 to 2008), winner of the Coupe de la Ligue (2001) and the Coupe de France (2008).

As an OL player, Bernard Lacombe formed a feared trio, known as the "elves", with Serge Chiesa and his "master" Fleury Di Nallo – two other small players – with whom he won the 1973 Coupe de France. His transfer to Saint-Etienne in June 1978 for 3 million francs saved the cash-strapped OL from bankruptcy.

A figure in Lyon life, known for his outspokenness (as when he declared, in 2013, on RMC, "not wanting to discuss football with women" , before pleading the "joke" ), Bernard Lacombe appears on the Fresque des Lyonnais, in the ^1st arrondissement, which represents historical figures of the city. In 2019, during a tribute at the stadium, OL supporters unfurled a laudatory banner with the inscription: "Lacombe, sniper, goals and cult phrases, thank you for everything" .

But, as a player, it was with the Girondins de Bordeaux, coached by Aimé Jacquet, that the striker most embellished his list of achievements: three French championship titles (1984, 1985 and 1987), two French Cups (1986 and 1987) and a semi-final of the European Cup of Champion Clubs, the forerunner of the Champions League (1985). He also played one season at Saint-Etienne (1978-1979).

A former prolific striker, he scored 255 goals in 497 French first division matches, becoming the second highest scorer in the history of the French Championship, behind the Argentinian Delio Onnis. This outstanding finisher embodied, better than anyone, a style of center forward that was both instinctive and clinical, the archetype of the "box fox" , despite his relatively modest height (1.71 meters).

This role of complete center forward, Bernard Lacombe, who was born on August 15, 1952, in Villefranche-sur-Saône (Rhône), put it at the service of the collective during the Euro 1984: no goals scored during the tournament but a decisive performance in the final, when he obtained the free kick allowing Michel Platini to open the scoring against Spain (final victory 2-0). "In my role as a goalscorer, I may not have given complete satisfaction, but it seems to me despite everything that I sacrificed a lot for the community , he estimated. I regret a little the detrimental lack of confidence that we have in center forwards. However, who can say that it is not the most thankless position to hold?"