Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna believes tonight’s clash between France and England in Donetsk will be played out like a derby.
Les Bleus came out on top when the sides met in their opening clash of Euro 2004, Zinedine Zidane scoring twice late on to seal a 2-1 victory. And in 2010, Sagna was in the France team as they won a friendly 2-1 at Wembley.
The France right-back has been ruled out of the tournament after breaking his leg but is looking forward to watching tonight’s clash.
He said: “It is like a derby. Every time France play England it is massive. No one wants to lose. We beat them at Wembley but this game will be totally different. They have changed manager as well so it will be very different.
“[A successful tournament for France] can only be winning it. You can only be successful by winning something. We want to go far and play good football as well.”
France captain Hugo Lloris believes Euro 2012 has arrived at the perfect time for Laurent Blanc’s side, who are unbeaten in 21 matches.
He said: “We are improving step-by-step and we are conscious that we can achieve something good. But we have our feet on the ground and we are thinking about our debut, which is the most important match for us in recent times.”
Lloris believes that Roy Hodgson’s England rely more on counter-attacking than they did under previous boss Fabio Capello.
“England won’t be an easy rival,” he said. “With the change of coach, they have changed their system and it’s normal they should play on the counter. That will give us even more problems.
“England use more of a direct style with Hodgson than they did before under Capello.
“That will oblige us to make an even greater effort and we will have to ensure they don’t cause us problems from dead-ball situations.”
