Michel Platini's teammate was kicked out of France squad after love triangle with his wife

Michel Platini's teammate Jean Francois Larios was left out of France's Euro 1984 squad after allegedly having an affair with Platini's wife.

Platini had been playing alongside Larios at the Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne when rumours about the affair started to appear in the French media.

Platini, France's best player at the time, went to national team head coach Michel Hidalgo to make sure that Larios was never part of the squad again.

Larios said back in 2017: "It it was love at first sight [with Platini's wife], a true love story. We thought we were well hidden but unfortunately, it was rumoured. With him [Platini], we no longer spoke. But we continued to play together. When you have a contract, you shut your mouth.

We were in the middle of the championship, there was the World Cup coming. In January 1982, I went to see coach Michel Hidalgo to explain the situation to him. I suggest to him that for the good of the team, I will pretend an injury and not go to the World Cup. He refused.

"But I had become a third card. It was he [Platini] who decided who played or not in the France team. I knew it, I took my responsibilities. It would have been different if he had been an average player. There are things like these that have happened in other clubs and it has not come out.

"A woman who leaves with her husband's best friend sometimes happens in life. Finally, she said goodbye to me on the phone, she chose not to stay with me. I had to accept it. [With Platini], we only saw each other again in 2001 in Mauritius. He just took his head in his hands when he saw me, but we didn't have a word."

Source: Daily Star