France head to Euro 2024 as one of the favourites as Didier Deschamps’ side look to lift the Henri Delaunay Cup for a record-equaling third time.
This current French side is one of the most successful international sides of the current era, having won the World Cup in 2018 and lost out in the final on penalties four years later.
In terms of legendary French sides, success in Germany would see the current crop talked about in the same reverent terms of the Euro 84 winners and the 1998 World Cup winners, who would go on to win Euro 2000.
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Kylian Mbappe is set to be the talisman for Les Bleus over the next four weeks, but even he will have to be at his very best if he is to match the achievements of France legend Michel Platini, whose nine goals in five games at Euro 84 remains a tournament record, 40 years on.
Platini netted in every game at the tournament, including hat-tricks in group stage wins over Belgium and Yugoslavia, while he opened the scoring in the 2-0 win over Spain in the final and looks back at his achievements fondly.
“How did I feel when I scored nine goals in five games?” he asks FourFourTwo. “I was tired! But I didn’t play football just to score goals; I played football to win games.
“Of course, if I could score to help the team win, then I would do it, but I wasn’t obsessed by that. If I could pass the ball to a friend rather than score, it was the same thing.”
Platini’s record has gone untouched for four decades and Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player in the tournament’s history to score have more European Championship goals to his name, something not lost on the 68-year-old.
“I was never into statistics,” he continues. “I’m still the second-highest scorer in the history of the European Championship, having played in only one tournament! Cristiano Ronaldo has the record, after playing in five. And you have to remember that I was a midfielder – I had to score from further away!”
France’s Euro 2024 tilt gets underway on Monday evening with a Group D clash against Austria, before matches against the Netherlands and Poland.
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