DARREN Fletcher sat in his seat main stand of the Parc des Princes fearing the knee injury that he had just suffered after an appalling challenge from Patrick Viera may force him out of the game for a very long time.

Yet, the Scotland midfielder’s grave concerns about his own wellbeing evaporated the instant that his team mate James McFadden netted his outrageous long-range strike against France.

“I was on crutches when Faddy scored – but I’m pretty sure I still got up and leapt about,” said Fletcher yesterday as he looked back on the famous 1-0 victory in the Euro 2008 qualifier in Paris back in 2007.

“I remember that night well because I had fractured my leg. It was a really bad tackle from Vieira and I thought that I’d been badly injured. I played on for a few minutes, but I couldn’t continue and went off after about 20 minutes.

“As I say, I was really concerned about the injury. It ended up only being a four week injury. It turned out that I had fractured my shin. But at the time it happened I really thought it could be more serious.

“I recall Faddy’s goal and a real spirited performance. I left the stadium that night happy that Scotland had won, but worried for myself. I think I had a knee brace on and was on crutches so it didn’t look great.

“The physios had expressed a concern that there might have been some ligament damage but once the swelling settled down that wasn’t the case. It’s strange because I remember that night for two things – Faddy’s goal and my injury when others only have the goal.

“Looking back on it now I can try and forget my own worries because it only kept me out for a month. I can look back fondly on Faddy’s goal. It was a great moment to see it and one that will go down in Scottish football history.”

Having played a part, albeit a small one, in that historic Scotland triumph, Fletcher has an understanding of what is needed to get a result against France away from home ahead of the friendly international against them in Metz on Saturday evening.

Those who had the misfortune to witness the national team’s uninspired display against Italy in the Ta’ Qali Stadium here in Malta on Sunday night won’t harbour much hope of a similar result being recorded this time around.

Gordon Strachan’s side were sloppy in possession, cut open at the back on numerous occasions and ineffectual going forward – they only managed a single shot at target in the course of the 90 minutes - during the 1-0 defeat.

The meeting with Didier Deschamps’s charges in the Stade Saint-Symphorien will arguably be even more demanding; their opponents will be playing in their final warm-up match before hosting the Euro 2016 finals in front of a sell-out crowd of over 26,000. They will be determined to record an emphatic and morale-boosting win.

However, Fletcher, who captained his country on the occasion of his 72nd cap at the weekend, is adamant the Italy match was a worthwhile exercise for Scotland as they prepare for their World Cup qualifying campaign next season.

The West Brom man, who will be hoping to show Strachan he deserves to regain his place in the starting line-up in the Group F matches against England, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta, is also optimistic his side can stun their feted opponents once again.

“You learn a lot in defeat to the likes of Italy,” he said. “We have to get used to playing top class nations. That’s the next step for us. We could definitely have done better against Italy and we have to learn how to counter teams like that.

“We knew it would be very difficult on a tough pitch against a tough nation. The one thing we will get is a lot of hard work from these guys and we just have to keep on trying to improve.”

The likes of Paul Pogba, Olivier Giroud, N’Golo Kante and Dimitri Payet are all set to feature for Les Bleus on Saturday. Given the quality of player at Deschamps’s disposal and the unconvincing current form of Strachan’s men, avoiding a heavy defeat would seem to be a respectable outcome.

Fletcher, though, believes France’s greater willingness to get forward may mean there are more openings for Scotland to exploit than was the case against a more cautious Italian side four days ago.

“They might leave us more space because they attack a bit more,” he said. “Italian teams don’t concede and their first priority is to be solid. To win 1-0 in a game is enough for them. The French will be more flamboyant and will have runners everywhere, but that’s gives us space to hit on the counter and we’ll be looking to exploit that.”

Fletcher became the fifth most-capped Scotland player alongside Tom Boyd here on Sunday evening. Only Kenny Dalglish (102), Jim Leighton (91), Alex McLeish (77) and Paul McStay (76) have featured more than him.

The Dalkeith man’s desire to play international football remains great some 13 years after he made his debut. But he will have to perform better, far better, against France in Metz on Saturday than he did at the weekend if he is to add to his haul of caps in the future.