Néstor Combin (born 29 December 1939) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a striker. Born in Argentina, he spent most of his professional career in France, most notably with

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, and represented the France national team at international level. He was dubbed "La Foudre" (The Lightning) in France, for his speed, and "Il Selvaggio" (the Savage) in Italy, for his fighting spirit.

Club career

Combin was born in

Las Rosas Las Rosas is a city in the southwest of the , located from the provincial capital. It has about 13,689 inhabitants as per the , and it is the head town of the Belgrano Department, which also comprises the municipalities of Armstrong, Bouquet, ...

, Argentina. During his time as a player in France, he scored 117 goals in the Division 1; 68 with

and 49 with

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

. In the 1973–74 season at Red Star, he formed a remarkable partnership in attack with Paraguayan forward Hugo González. In France, he also played for

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

, and in Italy for

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Combin scored 10 goals in 38 games for Juventus and 32 goals in 99 games for Torino. Combin was one of the first French internationals who played abroad in Italy's

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

. He won several titles there, including a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

with both Juventus and Torino, and an Intercontinental Cup with Milan.

International career

Combin was born in Argentina, and was of French descent through his maternal grandmother. He has 8 caps with the France national team, obtained between 1964 and 1968, and scored four goals. He played at the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

with France.

Incident

In a game between

and Argentine side Estudiantes for the

1969 Intercontinental Cup The 1969 Intercontinental Cup (football), Intercontinental Cup was a Two-legged tie, two-legged association football match contested between 1969 European Cup Final, 1968–69 European Cup champions A.C. Milan, Milan and 1969 Copa Libertadores winn ...

, Combin was dealt with aggressively by rival players and had his nose broken (the infamous "Bombonera Massacre"). When he was leaving the stadium, he was arrested, under a charge of desertion. After international pressure and indignation rising, he was released. In 2015, Raúl Madero blamed Combin as the fighting inciter, by provoking Ramón Aguirre Suárez in the first match, in Italy, saying "''negro'', don't warm up anymore because in one month I earn the same money that you receive in two years".

Honours

Lyon *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

: 1963–64 Juventus *

: 1964–65 Torino *Coppa Italia: 1967–68 Milan * Intercontinental Cup:

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

Individual * Division 2 top scorer: 1973–74

References

* Archivio Toro - Official Torino F.C. Archives

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Combin, Nestor 1939 births Living people Argentine people of French descent French people of Argentine descent Sportspeople of Argentine descent French footballers Argentine footballers France international footballers Association football forwards Olympique Lyonnais players Juventus F.C. players S.S.D. Varese Calcio players Torino F.C. players A.C. Milan players Serie A players FC Metz players Red Star F.C. players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players 1966 FIFA World Cup players Argentine expatriate footballers French expatriate footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Sportspeople from Santa Fe Province