Patrick Battiston still haunted by Harald Schumacher's brutal foul in France's 1982 Tragedy of Seville

France defender Patrick Battiston carries the marks left by West Germany goalkeeper's reckless challenge during 1982 World Cup semi-final

Patrick Battiston had a distinguished playing career. He won the French league on five occasions and was part of his country's 1984 European Championship-winning team, but he is rarely reminded of the good times.

To this day, some 32 years on, not a week goes by when he is not asked about being the innocent victim of the most notorious foul in World Cup history.

Battiston was the player who so brutally knocked unconscious by Harald Schumacher in the semi-final of the 1982 tournament, an incident that will be constantly relived over the next 48 hours ahead of what is only the second subsequent meeting between Germany and France at a World Cup finals.

Schumacher’s reckless shoulder charge on Battiston was so severe that, to this day, he has a cracked vertebra and damaged teeth. It became known as the Tragedy of Seville, with Schumacher, staggeringly, not even booked for the foul by referee Charles Corver.

Now 57 and the manager of Bordeaux’s youth academy, Battiston remembers noticing even before he came on that Schumacher looked highly strung. “I remember his attitude even when I was sitting on the substitutes’ bench,” said Battiston.