International: Vieira and France have tired legs

Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira believes France could be paying a physical price of success after last night’s lacklustre display against Russia.

Following the 1998 World Cup win, French players have become sought after across the continent.

Les Bleus fielded a team featuring talents from the upper echelons of Spain’s Primera Liga, Italy’s Serie A and England’s Premiership at the Stade de France but were held to a scoreless draw by the Russians.

And Vieira, gunning for a championship gong with Arsenal, is starting to see the toll taken on his international team-mates by involvement in title campaigns in Europe’s biggest leagues.

‘‘We have always been confident even if the result is frustrating, we were expecting a difficult game and I must admit that for me, the second half was particularly harsh physically.

‘‘We all play in great European clubs and it becomes more and more hard to finish the games.’’