England didn't have the best squad of the 1998 World Cup. Not even in the top four. And yet, it isn't always that simple. Martyn lays out his case to Rob that this was an underrated lost opportunity for England and it had nothing to do with the Argentina game. And we also missed out on one of the best World Cup semi-finals of all time.

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The 1990 World Cup is one that we know so well that we can almost say for sure where we were when we watched every game. But what if one moment was changed? What if Nery Pumpido had managed to smother François Omam-Biyik's header in the San Siro? Would we have had a better football tournament as a result? Rob and Martyn enjoy some counterfactual history by changing one goal and seeing what would happen as a result.

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As a one-off summer treat we are making our weekly Patreon show open to all. This Week is available every Monday morning and has two Nessun Dorma regulars picking out seven stories from football history that coincide with the coming seven dates in the week.

Rob and Martyn have plenty to work with this week and they reflect upon three World Cup Finals, three semi finals and two massive signings.

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And so it is time to bid adieu to Euro '84 as France and Spain meet in the final and so much of Europe craving a home victory for the good of the game. Martyn, Aidan and Jonathan look at a final ruined by nerves, assess the tournament's legacy, where Platini's individual performance sits among the greats and put together their best XI of the Championship.

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After the European football public had caught their breath following the first semi final, most assumed that the finale itself had the potential to be the best of all. Denmark were strong favourites to beat Spain - who were extremely fortunate to still be active in the competition - and set up a beautiful footballing conclusion to an enjoyable tournament.

However, many Spanish players believed that luck was with them. Something that can take teams a long way in these things...

Rob is with Martyn this week to explain Denmark's sudden rise to prominence, why so many neutrals took them to heart and how Spain broke those hearts in the end.

'Danish Dynamite', which Rob co-wrote with Mike Gibbons and Lars Eriksen is still available in the usual places.

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Aidan Williams and Jonathan O'Brien return to luxuriate in perhaps the greatest European Championship match of all time. With time ticking by, it felt like it was all going wrong again for France, destined forever to come up short at the big events. Within five minutes, the entire narrative was changed.

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"The German monster has survived too long" opined Le Soir on 21 June 1984. And that was one of the more sober conclusions.

After the way France's World Cup had ended, schadenfreude was not in short supply when the reigning European Champions went home before the real action started. It was also one of the two games that was shown live in the UK.

Jonathan O'Brien joins Martyn to make sense of Group 2 with a surprise Iberian challenge and a disappointingly restrictive Romania.

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If the host nation were nervy in that opening night in Paris, they quickly shrugged it off throughout the rest of Group 1. Platini's seven goals in three games, the young promise of Scifo and Stojković, the shackles around the Romanians and the disgrace that derailed Belgium give Martyn and Aidan Williams lots to talk about in a group that produced 23 goals.

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Martyn, Rob and Aidan are back to finish off this memorable qualifying story. Italy were seemingly on a post-World Cup gap year, Northern Ireland managed to beat West Germany home and away and still finish second - a tale of glorious failure that would become more familiar for some home nations - and the Netherlands were booking their hotel after setting Spain the task of winning their final game by 11 clear goals...

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It is tournament time again in the Nessun Dorma marathon and this time we revisit one that was, in the words of one writer, 'the greatest tournament you never saw'.

That writer was Aidan Williams and he joins Rob and Martyn in the first of two parts that tell the remarkable story of qualification for Euro '84, a tale that is almost as dramatic as the Finals themselves.

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