FRENCH COACH DIDIER Deschamps says his side are ready to test themselves against the world’s best when they meet Spain on Tuesday.
Deschamps’ men travel to Madrid to take on the double world and European champions in their 2014 World Cup qualifier and the former Marseille coach believes anything is possible.
Both sides have won their first two games in Group I but Spain will undoubtedly go in as heavy favourites, especially given France’s 1-0 friendly loss to Japan last week.
“Our main goal is to qualify for the World Cup, but let’s be honest, we are in a group where on Tuesday we will play against the best team in the world,” Deschamps told reporters.
“Whatever you say, they are the best team in the world, that is a fact. But anything is possible in football. We will go out there with our own abilities and weaknesses, knowing that we have the best players in France and we’ll see that during the game.
“It is not a question about some talent or a generation of players. We have a world ranking that shows where we are today and it is not just because of what we’ve done in the past.”
French winger Jeremy Menez said it is important not to panic even if Spain dominate possession in trademark fashion.
“We are expecting a very difficult challenge against Spain. I think that we shouldn’t be disappointed if we don’t have all the possession,” Menez said.
“I think we have to keep that in mind. We will have to be good in defence and then try to get past their first line.
“We know they will press us deep in our own half but if we can survive that, with the help of our forwards, we can try and score a goal during a period of attack.”
