By Tom Victor
Lucy Bronze is excited at the prospect of facing France in England鈥檚 Euros opener in one of the most eye-catching fixtures of the tournament’s opening week. The Lionesses begin their title defence against one of their fellow favourites, meaning they鈥檒l need to be on top form from the get-go, but that doesn鈥檛 worry the experienced defender. 鈥淚 think if I wasn鈥檛 in this squad right now and I was watching at home as a fan I would be saying that has got to be the most exciting group game of the entire tournament,鈥 Bronze told England鈥檚 diary room. 鈥淓ngland-France, probably two of the highest ranked teams playing each other in the group games. There is a really big buzz about that game.鈥 Bronze spent three years in the French top flight with Lyon and two in Spain with Barcelona , but is now back in the WSL, and the Chelsea star will be taking on some familiar faces in Zurich on Saturday. 鈥淭hey [France] are still a very strong squad, lots of fresh-faced attacking players, exciting players who I have played with and against for many years either at Lyon and obviously at Chelsea as well at the minute,鈥 she added. 鈥淔rance are a team I really love playing against for that reason. Anyone who knows France, knows they have amazing attacking threats. 鈥淥bviously as a defender that is something you quite relish coming up against. We are playing in a group where people will be saying they are one of the teams they could be a favourite to win the whole tournament as well. 鈥淭wo big favourites going head-to-head early on is exciting for everyone. For us it is an exciting test to start the tournament in that way. We played them previously in group stages as well in a World Cup and that game was super exciting as well. So, I am just looking forward to it, training and focusing on France.鈥 After taking on France, England will stay in Zurich for their second group game against the Netherlands on Wednesday. They will then move on to St Gallen for the final group fixture on July 13. Temperatures in Zurich have dropped a little overnight, but England boss Sarina Wiegman was nonetheless confident her players would be able to deal with the heat . 鈥淲e have ice cold towels at the rest moment in the training sessions ,they get the towels if they want to,鈥 the coach said, also mentioning the use of ice baths and cold vests when needed. 鈥淪o we make sure we are hydrated. Take another rest, don’t go in and out all the time, for recovery, and do those things to keep your body temperature low.鈥 Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.