There was always the potential something was going to happen. Being cooped up in Donetsk for the best part of a month with nothing to do but train is enough to test the most even-mannered of people, let alone temperamental characters of the ilk of Samir Nasri and Hatem Ben Arfa.
Footballers often complain about going stir crazy at big tournaments. Roy Hodgson commented after England's win over Ukraine that he has been well chuffed with the arrangements the FA have made for his side at this tournament, by basing them in Krakow.
It may have meant traveling over a thousand miles to get to their two pool matches in Donetsk, but Krakow is not one of Poland's host cities for Euro 2012. As such, on a daily basis the players have been relatively unencumbered by the football fever that has pervaded the main centres where the tournament is being played.
Only three of the 16 teams who started out this competition have based themselves in Ukraine, one of whom were the co-hosts themselves. The others, Sweden, stayed in the capital, miles away from here.
And it is not as though there is all sorts to do in Donetsk. The main attraction is the football stadium. The French players would have seemed like a bunch of sad sacks going and paying a visit there when they have trained and played there anyway.
Laurent Blanc and his placid captain, Hugo Lloris, have just said in the press conference ahead of tomorrow's game against Spain that the French players are back calm and focused after their post-match blow out against Sweden.
They were agreed that blowing off steam like that is sometimes necessary, and they expect a positive reaction in the quarter finals. Maybe the players are demob happy: only a few days to go before they can escape Ukraine's east. Lose, of course, and they can get home quicker.
