The French never forget our team of ’98

the world’s attention. Only a few times have I felt the same emotion – such as when my kids were born.

“You have the feeling that you were in the right place at the right moment and it’s a privilege because I always said that what we did, we were prepared to do, but you never know what’s going to happen.

“Normal people can do extraordinary things when they believe in themselves.”

The French have a reputation for self-destructive arguments within the squad, but a good spirit can conquer the world, according to Petit. He added: “Teams have to have confidence all together if they are going to win a World Cup because we are playing a collective sport, not an individual one.

“The individual can have a big impact on results, but, at the end of the day, it’s the team that wins. Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, they cannot do it on their own.

“Even Zidane (right) in 1998 couldn’t win the World Cup himself. We had to be a real team – united, very strong against criticism and always focused on our targets. “And when you prepare for a big tournament like this, the details are very important. “Nutrition, recovery, sleep, training sessions… you have to put pressure on yourself to be on top, you cannot think, OK, I will do this later’. No, that’s not possible. Winning the World Cup is not a surprise, it’s a long journey and you get what you deserve.” Petit, a Paddy Power News columnist, believes France can reach the semi-finals at least. He said: “If you have a good draw and you’re lucky through the games, maybe we can expect something beautiful. We could be beaten as well in the group stage – anything can happen. “If you look what we did in Brazil (losing to Germany in the quarter-finals), and what happened two years ago at the Euros ( finishing runners-up to Portugal) we can expect semi-finals.”

France have only won one of their last four opening World Cup games (D2 L1), beating Honduras in 2014 (3-0).