Alban Lafont becomes 13th player to earn 10/10 L'Equipe rating | OneFootball

Nantes goalkeeper Alban Lafont became only the 13th player to earn a perfect 10/10 rating from French newspaper L’Equipe following a magnificent performance against Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday night.

Nantes stunned the Ligue 1 leaders, racing into a 3-0 lead before half-time thanks to goals from Randal Kolo Muani, Quentin Merlin and Ludovic Blas.

Neymar pulled a goal back for PSG early in the second half through Neymar, who also had a tame penalty saved by Lafont on the hour-mark.

PSG had all three of their superstar forwards on the pitch but Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe were also frustrated by Nantes’ impressive ‘keeper.

Lafont, the 23-year-old who was born in Burkina Faso and has represented France at every youth level from Under-16s through to the Under-21s, produced the standout performance of his career so far and earned a flawless score from L’Equipe, whose player ratings are notoriously harsh, in the process.

Outstanding goalkeeping.

While he wasn’t able to keep his clean sheet intact, he still managed to wow the famously hard-to-impress L’Equipe.

Which players have received a 10/10 from L’Equipe?

But who are the other 12 players to receive a flawless 10/10 rating from the French newspaper?

Let’s take a closer look:

1. Franck Sauzee | France U21s vs Greece U21s, 1988

This was the first and only game in history that L’Equipe have awarded two 10/10 ratings.

Sauzee scored two of France’s three goals in Les Bleus’ victory over Greece in the 1988 Under-21 European Championships final.

2. Bruno Martini | France U21s vs Greece U21s, 1988

Martini was France’s goalkeeper in that final and also received a perfect score after keeping a clean sheet.

3. Oleg Salenko | Russia vs Cameroon, 1994

Oleg Salenko and Hristo Stoichkov shared the 1994 World Cup Golden Boot after scoring six goals apiece at the tournament in the United States.

Four of Salenko’s goals came in a Man of the Match performance against Cameroon.

4. Lars Windfeld | Aarhus vs Nantes, 1997

Danish goalkeeper Lars Windfeld earned a 10/10 rating from L’Equipe thanks to his performance for Aarhus against Nantes in the UEFA Cup back in 1997.

Remarkably, it would be another 13 years before the French newspaper handed out another perfect score.

5. Lionel Messi | Barcelona vs Arsenal, 2010

Lionel Messi is the only footballer to have received two 10/10 ratings from L’Equipe.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner famously smashed four goals past Arsenal for Barcelona in the Champions League in 2010.

6. Lionel Messi | Barcelona vs Bayer Leverkusen, 2012

Messi produced one of the greatest performances of his illustrious career against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, netting five goals against the German club for Barça at Camp Nou.

7. Robert Lewandowski | Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid, 2013

Robert Lewandowski cemented his status as one of the world’s best centre-forwards in April 2013 by scoring four goals for Borussia Dortmund against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals.

8. Carlos Eduardo | Nice vs Guingamp, 2014

After bagging a first-half hat-trick and then adding two more goals after the interval, L’Equipe had little choice but to award Nice’s Carlos Eduardo a 10/10 rating.

9. Neymar | Paris Saint-Germain vs Dijon, 2018

Neymar was the star of the show when PSG thrashed Dijon 8-0 in 2018, netting four goals and providing a couple of assists.

10. Dusan Tadic | Real Madrid vs Ajax, 2019

Ajax stunned Real Madrid at the Bernabeu during the 2018-19 Champions League campaign by winning 4-1 in the Round of 16 second leg.

Tadic, who scored one of Ajax’s goals that night, produced a magnificent individual display for the Dutch side.

11. Lucas Moura | Ajax vs Tottenham, 2019

Lucas Moura famously helped Tottenham reach the 2019 Champions League final with an extraordinary hat-trick away at Ajax in the semi-final second leg.

12. Serge Gnabry | Tottenham vs Bayern Munich, 2019

Several months after the 2019 Champions League final, Spurs suffered a humiliating 7-2 defeat at home to Bayern Munich in the 2019-20 group stages.

Former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry was sensational for the German giants, scoring four goals.

13. Kylian Mbappe | France vs Kazakhstan, 2021

With four goals and one assist for France against Kazakhstan, Mbappe became the 12th footballer to earn a 10/10 from L’Equipe in November 2021.

14. Alban Lafont | Nantes vs PSG, 2022

Lafont has now added his name to this illustrious list thanks to his goalkeeping masterclass against star-studded PSG.