Failure not an option for French

FRANCE have been amongst the most impressive teams in Euro 2012 so far but the beauty of tournament football is that Laurent Blanc’s carefully constructed plans could fall apart if they lose to Sweden in Kiev tonight.

Les Bleus’ unbeaten run currently stands at a hugely impressive 23 matches, but if they fail to make it 24 they could well be on the first plane back to Paris.

All the talk at the pre-match press conference was about whether Blanc intended to rest players ahead of their quarter-final tie, but the urbane former Barcelona, Manchester United and Inter Milan defender was having none of it.