Sagna expects England to be rivals

France defender Bacary Sagna insists that England’s youthful squad must be treated as serious rivals at the European Championship.

France, who are priced at 4.00 to win Euro 2016, enter the tournament on home soil as favourites to lift the title for a third time in their history and they kick off in Friday’s opener against Romania.

Les Bleus should comfortably make it through to the knockout stage as they will also face Albania and Switzerland in Group A. Sagna, who is expected to play a key role, believes that there are some serious contenders to be wary of over the coming weeks.

Defending champions Spain struggled in their last major tournament at the World Cup in 2014 and so will be out to prove a point, while world champions Germany will be keen to further assert their dominance.

However, Sagna insists England have to be treated with caution despite the fact they have travelled to France with their youngest ever squad. The Manchester City man has plenty of experience of playing with and against members of the England squad in the Premier League and insists they are a big threat.

Sagna said: “I think they [England] are a serious rival for us. It’s an extremely young team, a bit like ours actually. “Their team is very young. They have a certain force on the offensive. I play with them.

I watch them during the year and for me it’s the most serious English team in a long time.” England start their campaign against Russia at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille on Saturday before taking on Wales on June 16 and then facing Slovakia four days later.