While the Blues are presented as the big favorites of the Euro, the former midfielder Alain Giresse, winner of the Euro in 1984, believes that this label is deserved, but that the French should not arrive in the competition by thinking that it has already been won.

And insists on the importance of the first matches. 

INTERVIEW

It's a heady little music that is starting to make itself heard in the media.

The Blues, vice-European champions five years ago and then 2018 world champions, would be the big favorites of the Euro football which opens on Friday.

"Our rival will be ourselves," warned midfielder Paul Pogba at a press conference.

The fact remains that the France team will first have to get out of an ultra-tough group F, notably with the Portuguese title holders and Germany.

For the former French star Alain Giresse, this favorite sign is inevitable, but it will be a question of remaining lucid, he warns. 

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Whether the favorite label is embarrassing or not, "it is the case", the Blues are the scarecrow of the competition, especially with their five-star attack (Mbappé, Giroud, Griezmann, Benzema). "We can not prevent it, we are world champions ... We have a fairly powerful potential, especially in the offensive sector", reminds Alain Giresse at the microphone of Europe 1. But, he warns, " we must not fall into the trap of saying 'It's good. The Euro has already been won' ".

Especially since the France team is therefore in the most complicated group of the competition.

"It's quite rare to have such a tough group," admits the winner of Euro 1984, who therefore insists on the importance of not failing at the start.

"It's from the first matches that it will count ... It will be necessary to be very efficient."

"To the maximum technically and mentally"

However, the French do not always start their competitions with a bang.

At the 2018 World Cup, finally won, the first matches "were indeed very sluggish", remembers Alain Giresse, "but we know that the World Cup is a competition longer than a Euro".

And to add: "Everyone is aware that at a Euro, you must already be very ready from the start of the competition". 

In this "group of death" and with "very complicated conditions" (the Blues will respectively face Germany in Munich and Hungary in Budapest), "it will really be necessary to be at the maximum technically and mentally" , insists Alain Giresse.