Hall of Fame: Michel Platini - 'The King' who crowned Juventus and led France to glory

Platini's roots are in Italy, as his paternal family comes from the Piedmont town of Agrate Conturbia, while his mother's family hail from the province of Belluno, in Veneto. Platini, however, was born in Joeuf, in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region of north-eastern France. 

It was there that he took his first steps in football, first at AS Joeuf and then at Nancy, before making the leap to the big leagues at Saint-Etienne and, above all, Juventus. At the height of his career, Platini added to his down-to-earth origins the sparkle of champagne, with a style of football devoted to attacking play and the pursuit of technical beauty, as well as effectiveness and the desire to win.

Platini made his professional debut as a teenager at Nancy, for whom he scored 127 goals in 215 appearances between 1972-79 while winning a second division championship and the Coupe de France.

From Nancy, Platini moved to what was the strongest French team of the era: Saint-Etienne. During his three seasons with Les Verts, Platini played 145 games and scored 82 goals while winning the French title in 1981.

Gianni Agnelli, the owner of Juventus and Fiat, fell in love with Platini's footballing talent and wanted him for his team. The Bianconeri were dominant within Italy, but had failed to win any European titles aside from the UEFA Cup in 1977.

Agnelli secured Platini, who was added to a squad that included legendary Polish forward Zibi Boniek and six Italian World Cup winners from Spain '82: Dino Zoff, Claudio Gentile, Antonio Cabrini, Gaetano Scirea, Marco Tardelli and Paolo Rossi. 

After a few months of settling into life in Turin, Platini shifted into top gear and never looked back, embarking on what would be a truly epic journey. In five years with Juventus, he won two Scudetti, one Coppa Italia, one European Cup, one Intercontinental Cup, one Cup Winners' Cup and one UEFA Super Cup. In 224 games for the Bianconeri, he scored 104 goals in every way possible, from free-kicks and penalties to headers and powerful shots with both feet.

Platini's class was a perfect match for the pragmatism of manager Giovanni Trapattoni and the winning mentality of the Italian core of that Juve side. The Frenchman became the lynchpin of the team and took it to a higher level as they continued to win in Italy and while reaping success in Europe, which helped establish the Old Lady on the international stage. 

What made Platini's performances stand out so much was that he was producing them in the most exciting and difficult league in the world at the time. He topped the Serie A goal-scoring charts on three occasions as he netted more times than the likes of Diego Maradona, Zico and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

'Le Roi (The King)' won the Ballon d'Or in 1983, '84 and '85, with the second of those Golden Balls marking his greatest year in the game. In 1984, Platini reached his peak as he won both the Scudetto and Cup Winners' Cup with Juventus, finished as Serie A top scorer and led France to glory at the European Championship, scoring a record nine goals at the tournament, a total which has still to be bettered over 40 years later.

Alongside his remarkable club career, Platini played a decisive role in changing the status of the French national team, which went from being a supporting act within the global game to a leading player that finished third at both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups while winning the European Championship title in 1984.

Euro '84 was Platini's tournament. In the group stage, France began by beating Denmark 1-0 thanks to a goal from Platini, and he then scored twice more in the 5-0 thrashing of Belgium before netting a hat-trick in front of his adoring fans in Saint-Etienne to beat Yugoslavia.

In the semi-finals, France faced their toughest challenge as they were taken to extra-time by Portugal and, with six minutes to go, found themselves 2-1 down. It was at that point that Platini took over, scoring a fantastic brace to take Michel Hidalgo's team to the final, where they beat Spain 2-0 after Platini broke the deadlock with a free-kick.

There was great celebration at Parc des Princes as captain Platini lifting the trophy to mark France's first major international success.

In absolute terms, Maradona was greater than Platini, and he rightly competes with Pele and Lionel Messi for the symbolic title of best footballer in history. But there were three years, between 1982 and 1985, in which Platini was the strongest, the most effective, the greatest, outperforming everyone else in European football. As such, he should be remembered as one of the greatest footballers of all time.

In addition to his greatness on the pitch, Platini also became iconic for the disarming and irreverent class with which he distanced himself from the ordinary events of football, using the humour and grandeur of a true king. 

"I started playing for the strongest team in Lorraine, continued with the strongest team in France, and ended up with the strongest team in the world," he once said, hinting at the major role he played in the success of Nancy, Saint-Etienne and Juventus over the course of his career.

Platini did have a rebellious nature, as highlighted by an incident when he was asked by Agnelli whether rumours of him smoking at half-time were true. The legendary playmaker responded, "Sir, the important thing is that [Massimo] Bonini doesn't smoke, he's the one who has to run!"

However, it is a quote from Agnelli that best sums up the impact Platini had on Juve and Italian football: "We bought Platini for a pittance, then he topped it off with foie gras."

There were two particularly dark moments in Platini's career. On a sporting level, his most painful defeat came against Hamburg in the 1983 European Cup final. Juventus went into the game as favourites but lost 1-0, with Platini in particular well under-par.

From a human perspective, the most dramatic moment of Platini's career came at Heysel in 1985, when 39 people tragically lost their lives before the European Cup final that Juventus won by beating Liverpool. For Platini, that tragedy marked the end of football being just a game to him, and two years later he hung up his boots despite being just 32.

"The important thing is to always be true to yourself. I couldn't do it anymore on the pitch. So I left."