Mickaël Landreau
From Tekken City
Mickaël Landreau (born May 14, 1979 in Machecoul) is a French professional football player in the position of goalkeeper, who currently plays for Tekken City in the English FA Premier League. He has played four matches for the France national football team.
Landreau has good reflexes, safe hands and a character that made him team captain of childhood club FC Nantes Atlantique. Such qualities allow him to turn unfavourable conditions in his favour vis-a-vis dangerous attackers. Landreau is best known for his performances at saving penalty kicks. He has stopped more than 30 penalties in his career.
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Biography
Landreau graduated from the FC Nantes Atlantique "Centre of Excellence" in La Jonelière. His first professional match for Nantes was a 0-0 draw against SC Bastia in 1996. Since 1996, he remained a mainstay in the Nantes starting line-up, and consistently produced excellent performances. He was selected to represent the France youth national team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Having won two consecutive Coupe de France trophies in 1999 and 2000, Landreau and Nantes were crowned 2001 Ligue 1 champions. In the semi-final of the 2004 French Cup, Landreau produced several saves, but to no avail as the team could not score and were eliminated from the competition. At the end of the 2004-05 Ligue 1 season, Landreau's contract with Nantes was set to expire. He gave a press conference and announced that after twelve years, he would leave FC Nantes to meet new challenges in a more important team. He then joined Tekken City for a £5 million signing a four-years contract on August 31, 2005, the very last day of the summer transfer window.
Landreau was ever present in his first season as a Tekken City player, making a total of 37 appearances in the FA Barclays Premiership, and 6 appearances in the FA Cup, and 12 appearances in the UEFA Champions League. His performances in goal for the Buzzards did not go un-noticed, and he became notibly regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the country, alongside the likes of Chelsea's Petr Cech, Liverpool's Jose Manuel Reina, and Manchester United's Edwin Van der Sar.
Broken Leg
The following season however, was not as successful for Landreau. On October 14, 2006, Landreau suffered a horrific leg injury during a Premiership match with Sheffield United, to which the Buzzards won 2-0. In the very first minute of the game, he collided with Rob Hulse in a tussle with the ball. He was rushed to hospital with immediate effect. The x-ray scans revealed that there was a clean break in the left Tibia (the bigger bone). Landreau was ruled out for 4 months on the sidelines.
The Tekken City goalkeeper and team captain was called up to the French squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by French national team manager Raymond Domenech. He wore the number 1 shirt for France at the tournament, despite being third-choice keeper behind Fabien Barthez and Grégory Coupet. Landreau is now second choice behind Coupet even though Barthez, who had retired after the World Cup, returned to professional football (ironically, with Nantes) in December 2006.
Honours
- French champion: 2001
- Coupe de France: 1999 and 2000
- Trophée Des Champions: 1999 and 2001
- 2006 FIFA World Cup: Runner-up
