In the way that Johan Cruyff influenced the Dutch team of the 70s, so Platini did for France in the 1980s, orchestrating everything that was great about that side. It is no surprise that Platini is only the second player, after Cruyff, to win the European Footballer of the Year on three separate occasions. Unlike the Dutchman, he did it in three consecutive years.

So many of these class players seemingly played the game at their own pace, controlling the tempo of matches, and Platini was in that mould. Scoring 41 goals in 72 international matches, it could be argued that he may not have made the same impact on the World Cup Finals as some of his contemporaries.

However, he did captain France twice in the three tournaments he took part in, guiding them to the semi-finals in 1982 and 1986. In-between he played a huge role in their European Championships victory in 1984, scoring two hat-tricks amongst his nine goals in five matches.

In so many ways, Platini was well ahead of his time and has gone on to become such an ambassador for French football. He will long be one of France's favourite sons and richy deserves his place in our starting XI.