Platini and Pierre Littbarski had exchanged goals in the first half but the game's defining moment arrived in the 65th minute. Patrick Battiston, on as a substitute, went haring through the middle in chase of a superb pass from Platini. German keeper Harald Schumacher sprinted to intercept but Battiston won the chase and got a toe to the ball first. The shot dribbled just past the post and wide but Battiston was by that stage unconscious.

As the two players came together Schumacher had jumped in the air and twisted around, managed to clatter into Battiston with both a forearm smash and the full force of his weight. The Frenchman's front teeth were gone, had damaged neck vertebrae and administered oxygen on the field before later slipping into a coma. Platini later said that he thought that Battiston was dead, because "he had no pulse and looked pale".

Incredibly, Dutch referee Charles Corver took no action whatsoever for what wasn't so much a tackle as a full-on assault, awarding a goal kick to the Germans, whereupon Schumacher further enraged the French crowd by complaining that the medics were taking too long to stretcher the (close-todeath) player from the field.

France though managed to regain their composure and stormed into a 3-1 lead in extratime, the goals coming from Giresse and Marius Tresor, but back came the resilient Germans.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, on as an emergency substitute despite carrying an injury, reduced the deficit before Klaus Fischer levelled the game with a bicyclekick, in doing so setting up the first penalty shoot-out in World Cup history.

And, proving that whoever writes these scripts has a dark sense of humour, Schumacher ended the day as Germany's hero, stopping Maxime Bossis' effort to put his side into the final.

Needless to say they didn't carry much goodwill from neutrals or France with them.