“What must Ukraine do to avoid losing Euro 2012?” Michel Platini repeats the question, puffs out his cheeks, drums a rhythm on the table with his fingers.

Platini was first a great French footballer, and is now president of the European football authority Uefa, but his face is so mobile he could have been a French comic actor. What he says next implies that next week Uefa may remove Ukraine as co-host of the 2012 European Championships. But although Platini is also worried about English clubs, particularly Manchester City, an hour in his company suggests that they will escape scot-free.