Néstor Combin (born 29 December 1940) 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 lea ...

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

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, 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, 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. ...

. 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 ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

, and in Italy for

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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. The city is main ...

, and

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. 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 (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. He won several titles there, including a

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

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 eight 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 Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

with France.

Incident

In a game between

and Argentine side Estudiantes for the

1969 Intercontinental Cup The 1969 Intercontinental Cup was a two-legged association football match contested between 1968–69 European Cup champions Milan and 1969 Copa Libertadores winners Estudiantes de La Plata. It was the 10th edition of the competition. The firs ...

, 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 Horacio Madero Raul, Raúl, Raül, and Raüll are forms of a common first name in Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan. The name is cognate of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph and the French R ...

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". ''El Negro'' was the disparaging nickname given to Suárez, who was of Paraguayan descent and had dark skin.

Honours

Lyon *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 1963–64 Juventus *

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

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

Individual * Division 2 top scorer: 1973–74

References

* Archivio Toro - Official Torino F.C. Archives

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Combin, Nestor 1940 births Living people Argentine people of French descent French people of Argentine descent Sportspeople of Argentine descent French men's footballers Argentine men's footballers Footballers from Santa Fe Province France men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Olympique Lyonnais players Juventus FC players SSD Varese Calcio players Torino FC players AC Milan players Serie A players FC Metz players Red Star FC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players 1966 FIFA World Cup players Argentine expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 20th-century French sportsmen 20th-century Argentine sportsmen