A tip about a value-for-money meal at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations in Marseille got Basudev Mitra more than a €20 buffet spread.

A glance at the restaurant's corner table and the New Town resident thought his eyes were playing tricks. It was Michel Platini!

"I was shaking in excitement as I walked up to him and requested a photograph. He asked me which country I was from and if I was there for the Euro Cup," retired army officer Mitra, 54, recounted.

Picture taken, Platini disappeared, but for Mitra the moment he met the footballing great had been preserved for posterity.

Not every football-crazy Calcuttan currently in France has been as lucky, of course. But they are certainly having a ball criss-crossing the country to catch the Euro action.

"Speed and power have reached dizzying heights in Euro 2016. The fitness levels are unbelievable," said Pankaj Ghosh, a retired Sports Authority of India football coach who has seen five World Cups, starting with the 1998 edition in France. "Back then, the game was skill-dependent. Now they are fitter and faster. No one seems tired even after 120 minutes."

The 64-year-old resident of Baidyabati, in Hooghly, has so far seen three matches.

If there is anything that has disappointed the Calcutta fans in France, it is Cristiano Ronaldo's form. "His famed solo runs are missing. Looks like he is playing percentage football. I wonder if he is injured," said Tallah Park resident Dipak Nandy, who runs a football academy in north Calcutta and is in France for eight matches till the final.

One aspect of the France and football experience for all three has been interacting with fans of different countries. "It is heart-warming to see how much they love their national side and how the team appreciates that," said Ghosh. "After losing to France in Lyon, the Irish players and officials gathered on the sidelines near their supporters' block as the fans sung songs of consolation for half an hour. Such experiences make it worth the while to have taken a bank loan and travelled this far."

His ticket to the final alone cost him Rs 1.3 lakh.

Ghosh finds it fascinating that the French fans still come to the stadium in 1998 World Cup jerseys, some of them bearing that edition's Golden Ball winner Zinedine Zidane's name.

Mitra was walking down a Marseille street before the Belgium-Wales quarter-final last Friday when a window opened and a fan shouted: "Belgium!"

Immediately, a window opened next door and someone replied: "Wales!"

Mitra looked up at them and shouted: "May the best team win."

Both responded with a smile and a thumbs-up.

At another match, he was seated next to a Polish fan. "We didn't speak each other's language but after every nice move, we smiled and nodded at each other. Football is beyond barriers of language," Mitra recounted.

Nandy returned from Bordeaux heartbroken on Sunday after seeing his favourite team Italy crash out after an epic shootout against Germany. But Mitra is delighted. "Now I will buy a German jersey for the semi-final. But if France make it against them, I got to wear a jacket over it in case my seat is amid the French!" he chuckled.

Who are you supporting in Euro 2016?

Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com