Michel Platini rages from the sidelines as Infantino stands to keep Fifa crown
The banned former Uefa president claims there was a plot to stop him taking top job at Fifa but says he has no regrets
At the annual Fifa congress gathering in Paris, Gianni Infantino is set to be elected unchallenged on Wednesday for a second term as president, following the tumultuous events which propelled him to the top spot in 2016. This should have been a crowning glory for Michel Platini, the former king of France as player and coach, president of Uefa from 2007 where Infantino was the general secretary, then candidate to succeed Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency until both presidents were suddenly banned from football in 2015.
Now, in the capital of the country where he became accustomed always to ascending throughout a brilliant career, he is reduced to raging from outside the congress hall. Meeting a group of journalists from six European countries including the Guardian at a hotel affording views of the Eiffel Tower and its arrondissement, he raged against Blatter, against Infantino for stepping over him to become the president and barely talking to him since, against Fifa and against the Swiss establishment, which Platini denounced as having plotted to manipulate his fall.