While he was in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises to inaugurate the new Charles-de-Gaulle stadium, Michel Platini answered questions from Europe 1 on the current French team.

The opportunity for the triple golden ball to analyze the Blues, favorites of the Euro, as well as the difficult task that awaits them. 

Can the Blues win the Euro?

"They are favorites on the menu," replies Michel Platini.

The former number 10 of the France team, traveling to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises to inaugurate the new Charles-de-Gaulle stadium, analyzed for Europe 1 the strengths of the team composed by Didier Deschamps, as well as the pitfalls that can stand in its way.

Because if the players are the "favorites of the Euro", their victory is far from assured. 

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"Everyone thinks they are going to win it but it is not going to be easy"

This position of favorites has been attributed to them, "not because we dream of it, but because they have a very complete team, certainly the most complete of all, more great individualities", explains Michel Platini.

Except that this talent is also a weakness.

"The big Blues, they have a big problem, it is that they are the favorites of the Euro", summarizes the triple golden ball.  

"Everyone thinks they're going to win it but it's not going to be easy," he said.

"The planets must be aligned and things must go well. On the map, they are favorites. Afterwards, you have to play the matches and then you have to win them. And there, things get complicated," considers the former president of UEFA.

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A situation that some might relate to Euro 1984 or Platini was at the top.

But there is a difference, and of size: "they are also world champions. We were not, we were coming out of a difficult semi-final, we had less certainty," recalls Platini.

"We were perhaps the favorites because we had a good World 82, but today we expect them more. So it's a little more difficult."

However "they have the means to win because they have the qualities to win".

Benzema "very great player", Mbappé "has the means" to win the Golden Ball

According to Michel Platini, the return of Karim Benzema is not a bad thing, especially since he seems well received by his teammates, even if he refuses to speculate too much. He believes that the Real Madrid center-forward is a "very great player", therefore an asset, but that will not be enough to win. Forming a team, "it's a balance, a puzzle" that Didier Deschamps must find. "It is not because you put a succession of great players that you will win", explains Platini, recalling the selection of Aimé Jacquet in 1998. "The field will speak its truth," he believes.

A victory at the Euro would in any case be good for Kylian Mbappé in his conquest of the Golden Ball. "If you win the trophies, you are more likely to be Golden Ball than if you do not", supports Michel Platini. He wants to be confident nonetheless. "I think he has the means to do it and he has as much chance of winning with Paris Saint-Germain as with any other club. So that will be his destiny, it is his life."