Raymond Domenech has always fancied himself as a bit of a thespian and reckons he sees every game of football he coaches as a stage play with an unknown ending.

So, even if the climactic scene could turn out to centre on his own downfall, the French manager is going to love tonight's Euro 2008 blockbuster production being staged here against a backdrop of intrigue, paranoia, insults, the old pals' act and frazzled blokes crying 'fix!'

The Paul O'Grady lookalike has been in his element, adopting his traditionally unfathomable and eccentric act before the showdown with Italy which will end with at least one of the World Cup finalists being dispatched before the tournament even enters the knock-out stage.

Indeed, should Holland, already qualified, lose to Romania in Berne, both giants will be RIP'd in the group of death.

Domenech's routine has been to pretend France are already doomed. " Holland will make wholesale changes and it's already written that Romania will qualify with them," he sniffed, even suggesting he could field his youngsters at the Letzigrund Stadium tonight to give them experience because France's hopes were already dashed.

No-one was convinced; he's not that good an actor. Here was a showman at work but with his only intended audience being Marco van Basten. For by implying the Dutch coach would be happy to lose tonight's match to the Romanians so he could be rid of two major rivals at a stroke, he was making a none-too-subtle attempt to play on a great sportsman's sense of pride.

Not that Domenech was the only one at it. The Italians have become so paranoid that even one of the Azzurri's former coaches, Cesare Maldini, noted "I think Van Basten wants to coach in Italy some day, maybe Milan, and I'm sure he'll want to present himself with an honest face", it sounded a bit like a veiled threat.

Roberto Donadoni, the Italian coach, knows better than to wind up his old Milan colleague. Asked if he'd rung his mate, he snapped: "Absolutely not. If I was Marco van Basten, I'd be offended to receive a call like that." Actually, everyone may be wasting their breath because, for reasons of sustaining the Oranje's fantastic momentum as well as fostering more competition for places, why shouldn't Van Basten want to win again?

A fix? No chance, says the great man. But putting out a reserve team? Ah, that's different. So the two great juggernauts of European football can collide as they did in the Euro 2000 and 2006 World Cup finals and this time both end up with nothing but a humiliating early bath.

In such circumstances, scapegoats must be sought and in France, no-one looks beyond Domenech. Having baffled, infuriated and exasperated his compatriots for long enough with his strange mix of hard man aggression, arty intellectualism and oddball approach, like his use of astrology in team selection - Leos are show-offs, Scorpios untrustworthy, that sort of thing - the knives are out for him.

They've been brandished most fiercely by Manu Petit, the old Arsenal maestro (and fussy Virgo) who thinks it is about time his World Cup-winning mate Didier Deschamps took over.

The criticism has snowballed. Why did Domenech leave the in form David Trezeguet, or the Arsenal trio of Mathieu Flamini, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna out of the squad? Something against Arsene Wenger, perhaps? How could the hapless Gregory Coupet be keeping out Serie A's best goalie last season, Fiorentina's Sebastien Frey? And why, asked Petit, did he make incomprehensible substitutions in both games?

It doesn't help Domenech's cause either when even the opposition treat him as a bit of a laughing stock, having never quite forgiven him for his claims that the Azzurri had fixed an Olympic qualifier before the 2000 Games.