MAGIC MICHEL LEFT MOTTY SPEECHLESS

BBC legend was awestruck by Platini's dramatic late winner

PARDON our French but as they stood on the brink of elimination from their own tournament, Les Bleus must have had an impending sense of deja vu.

Two years earlier, across the border in Spain, they were the victims of one of the great football heists of all time at the hands of West Germany.

The famous World Cup semi-final headlines of Harald Schumacher's 'assault' that sent Patrick Battiston to hospital, and the goalkeeper subsequently turning into his side's hero in the penalty shoot-out, had almost overlooked the fact that even without their injured defender, France were 3-1 ahead with 22 minutes of extra-time to play.