Four years ago, these two teams played out a tedious 0-0 draw in their final World Cup group game. This time they meet in Matchday 2 after France comfortably beat Australia 4-1 and Denmark played out a 1-1 draw with Tunisia. These two teams know each other very well, having played twice this year in the Nations League, with Danish Dynamite winning 2-1 away, and 2-0 in Copenhagen. Overall, Les Bleus has won eight of the previous 16 meetings, with six wins for Denmark, and two draws.

The long list of French injuries grew on Tuesday, with Lucas Hernandez being the latest French player to be ruled out of the tournament, being replaced by his brother, Theo. That brings to five the number of first-choice players now lost to injury, joining Messrs Benzema, Pogba, Kanté, and Kimpembe. Manager Didier Deschamps is adamant that France will play four at the back, having used a back three on occasions over the past year. Danish coach, Kasper Hjulmand, will likely opt for 3-5-2 again and will have a selection dilemma over Mikkel Damsgaard, scorer against England in the Semi-final of the Euros, but only a late first-half substitute against Tunisia. A tight contest looks likely between teams ranked fourth and tenth in the world.