France standard will improve – Sissoko

Moussa Sissoko is confident France will show their true quality in the rest of Euro 2016 after overcoming a tricky opener against Romania on Friday.

France looked nervous in front of a packed home crowd in the tournament’s first game last week and only just managed to scrape a 2-1 victory.

West Ham United midfielder Dimitri Payet, who has just enjoyed a stunning debut Premier League season, slammed in a superb strike in the 89th minute – to the delight of the supporters. Les Bleus, who won the World Cup in 1998 on home soil, will be happy to have got off to a winning start but they know an improvement in terms of their performance will be needed in order to go all the way this summer.

Sissoko earned his 39th cap on Friday after coming on as a late substitute and could have grabbed his second international goal when he burst through in the late stages, only to fire wildly in the side-netting.

The Newcastle United midfielder, who has revealed he wants to leave St James’ Park after their relegation to the Championship, believes the early nerves are now gone and the real France will now be seen. “We were all tense for that first game because the pressure was enormous,” he said. “There will be no easy matches but we’re more relaxed now and determined to go all the way.”

France are next in action on Wednesday when they take on Albania, who lost 1-0 to Switzerland in their opener, in their second Group A game. The hosts are firm 1.20 favourites to pick up a win, a draw is priced at 6.00, while the Albanians are the massive outsiders at 17.00 to cause a huge shock.