A splendid trequartista, exceedingly shrewd and a manipulator of the game and those around him, he is not the stubborn, streetwise juggler like Maradona, but rather a charming storyteller who weaves his web and strikes without ever failing.

Platini is perhaps the greatest genius of French football, even more so than Zidane, for he is less instinctive and primal than Zizou, but colder, more calculating, and thus more deceitful and dangerous.

He is a master of the long pass and finishes at the net with the numbers of a center-forward.