The former Arsenal midfielder made in 3-0 for France against Brazil during the 1998 tournament and he revealed that many years before, he had envisaged his home nation bagging a victory against the South American legends, but the final score surpassed his expectations.

He told the new issue of FourFourTwo magazine: “As a child, even before France had been chosen to host [the World Cup]. I wrote that we would one day win the World Cup, at home, 2-0 against Brazil in the final.

“We won 3-0 and I scored the third to break my own dream!

“Marcel Desailly received a red card at 2-0 so I dropped in to centre-back with Frank Leboeuf.

“With five minutes left, the noise was intense, and I yelled at him that my dream came true.

“He said, ‘What?! Concentrate on the game!’

“Then I scored from Patrick Viera’s pass – the Daily Mirror front page was us and the headline, ‘Arsenal win the World Cup’. We were so proud of that.”

The year was a highlight in Emmanuel’s career because Arsenal also won the league and cup double, and the former player will never forget a 1-0 away win against Manchester United in particular.

He said: “Not long before, we were 12 points behind Manchester United with three games in hand, so we knew if we won those matches, the fixture at Old Trafford could be the Premier League decider.

“So it happened and I remember the beautiful game we played at Old Trafford.

“United also played a fantastic game, but the big chances were on our side.

“Nicolas Anelka flicked on a long ball, Marc Overmars was one-on-one against Peter Schmeichel and he scored.

“We won that match and we won the Double as well.

“I had many important games with Arsenal, but that one meant a lot to seal the league title.”