MATT LAWTON'S EURO BLOG: Italy risk Euro disgrace at the Letzigrund, where I led a great British Paralympian to Euro glory

Leading by a short rope: Bob Matthews and guide during the 10,000 metres for blind runners at the Athens Paralympics

Bob and I trained under the same coach in Kent - a great guy called Vic Smith - and at 19 I was just about quick enough to run with him. It's a case of running on his outside while holding a short rope and quite literally talking him through the race. When it's a bend. When it's a straight. When to kick for home.

That summer, having won three Paralympic golds in Seoul the previous year, Bob was in terrific form and I was at his side at Crystal Palace when he set two more world records in the 1500m and the 5,000m.

Bob gets the gold: Matthews celebrates his victory in the Sydney Paralympic 10,000m

When we got to Zurich for the European Championships, however, Bob was under pressure. Two Norwegian athletes had run close to his times and the concern, particularly in the 1500m, was that they might try to race as a team.

John Anderson, more familiar to people these days as the referee on Gladiators but back then an inspirational team manager and coach to Liz McColgan, certainly suspected as much.

The 1500m was the first event and after much discussion Bob decided he was going to run it from the front. The concern, and it's a more serious one in a visually handicapped race because you're not talking about two athletes but four, was that the Norwegians might attempt to block him off and make him run very, very wide.

I remember being terrified. Bob had never been beaten in a major championships and I did not want to be in any way responsible for his first defeat. Guides sometimes get it wrong and run an athlete into trouble. Bob once went out for a run with a bloke in Rochester and was guided straight into a lamppost.

Zurich's Letzigrund: scene of Bob Matthews' European triumph, and perhaps Italy's European exit tonight

In the race the pace was pretty quick from the start, Bob sprinting to the first bend to secure the position he wanted before settling into a more sensible rhythm. "Where are they?'" he said after 300 metres. "Right behind you, mate. Second and third."

The next two laps passed by in a blur, my only concern being how much running from the front had taken out of him. The field was bunching up. The Norwegians seemingly poised for an attack. Bob could sense they were there, and responded to the sound of the bell by picking up the pace a fraction.

Anderson: "Mind the Norwegians"

It was with 300 metres left, however, that Bob decided it was time to go. All I had to say was "straight"and he surged half a yard ahead of me. A sudden, awesome, injection of power. It was fantastic. "Five metres clear," I said with 200 metres left. He accelerated again. "Ten metres clear!" as he hit the home straight. He was flying. An athlete in his prime. At the time seemingly unbeatable.

After powering over the finishing line, John Anderson ran over to tell him he'd run the last lap in 58 seconds. The last 300 metres in 42. And after that  Bob won the 800m and the 5,000m with relative ease. The Norwegians were crushed. Beaten soundly in their best event.

It was the only championships I ever ran with him but Bob, who later received the MBE, went on to win dozens more medals, his last Paralympic gold coming in the 10,000m in Sydney eight years ago.

Agony for the Azzurri: Italy concede their third goal to Holland on Monday

Sadly, disaster followed a couple of years later. Bob's lovely wife, Kath, felt so nauseous one evening she slept in the spare room. When Bob went in the next morning to see how she was, he found her dead on the floor. A brain haemorrhage. She was 37.

I'm glad to say Bob has since rebuilt his life. He's living in New Zealand now, having married a delightful Kiwi girl and started a family. After losing his sight at 16, and then losing Kath, he deserved a bit of luck.

Tonight at the Letzigrund I'll be thinking of Bob, while wondering if the Italians can display even half as much courage.