Platini had the future in mind when he was asked philosophically: “What would you do with a ball?” He replied: “Give it to a child.”

Former France coach Michel Hidalgo was, unsurprisingly, one of Platini’s greatest admirers. “Even his feet are intelligent,” said Hidalgo.

"Creating and scoring goals is what football is all about… It is also my philosophy in life,” revealed UEFA's President Michel Platini.

Platini said he “had no fuel left” when he quit aged 32. “It was my ambition to retire while I was still at my peak… I have no regrets.”

Paolo Rossi said of Platini: "I saw him do things with the ball that were unbelievable. He had it all; intelligence, precision, technique."

"He didn't run a lot like Cruyff and didn't depend on his physique, but I liked how he was the brain organising things on the pitch. He was a player who used his head in the broader sense. The way he shone with France and Juventus, and his capacity for taking free-kicks, made him the European footballer of the 1980s."
Pele, world football legend

"This is a very sad day. Another gift to us from above has come and gone. Platini will remain in our memories as one of Juventus' greatest ever players."
Giovanni Agnelli, Juventus President, on Platini's departure from the club

"Michel has never chosen to do things the easy way. He achieved everything in his career as a footballer and now he has unseated the man who controlled European football for many years. Okay, [managing to do that] wasn't football exactly, but it makes me realise how much he has achieved even more. I feel pride, of course, as does his mother. We're proud to have put a boy like him into the world, because he nonetheless gave us all sorts of headaches from a young age."
Aldo Platini, Michel Platini's father

"He was exceptional because he never once looked up. When a player is as successful as he was, there's always the risk they'll end up doing something stupid, like Maradona. He, on the other hand, was always calm, quiet and friendly."
Stefano Tacconi, Juventus goalkeeper (1983-92)

"Michel was one of those great players who saw fitness work as being a bit superficial. He used to say, 'We're not going to compete in the 5,000 metres at the Olympics, we have to play with our feet."
Giovanni Trapattoni, former Juventus coach

"When I was a kid and played with my friends, I always chose to be Platini. I let my friends share the names of my other idols between themselves."
Zinedine Zidane, France playmaker after Platini