Michel Platini attacks Infantino and demands his departure

He has failed

Frenchman Michel Platini, the former president of UEFA, has launched an attack on FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a man who once worked alongside him at UEFA.

Whatever bond they shared is now gone. Platini recently filed a lawsuit against the FIFA president on charges of "abuse of power", "conspiracy to commit defamation" and "slander".

Speaking on the "Canal Football Club" programme, the former UEFA chief made no attempt to hide his reservations about his old assistant: "He was, to some extent, but he was answering to a superior above him. I always knew he was fond of money and power."

Platini widened his fire to the current management of football, arguing that the real leaders are not the men who occupy seats in the governing bodies.

"I think football is a beautiful celebration, it is something important," he said. "Football is about matches... this is politics. It is a miniature image of people who think they are the rulers of football. But the rulers of football are the likes of Mbappe, Zidane and Maradona."

He went on: "They are bureaucrats who reach certain positions, obtain glory and money, then lose it. We need players."

On Infantino, his verdict was blunt: "He has failed, because he is the guarantor of the laws of the game. He did not respect them, he must go."