Russo scored in England’s 7-0 demolition of Jamaica in their warm-up game for this tournament, she’ll be eyeing up a strong campaign having been pivotal to Arsenal’s Champions League triumph, netting eight goals across her 15 appearances in the competition.

Russo had 73 shots across her 21 appearances in the WSL during the 24/25 season (3.90 per 90) with 33 of these attempts finding the target (1.76 per 90). This record returned 12 goals in the WSL for Russo who also averaged 1.91 shots on target per 90 in the Women’s Champions League.

Russo boasts a strong international record for England as well with 23 goals across her 51 caps for the Lionesses. She scored three goals across her six games in qualifying for these European Championships. 

When assessing the potential threats for France here, Diani stands out as a player who can cause England problems, just as she did during the qualifying games. Diani scored against England in France’s 2-1 loss to the Lionesses in the second game of qualifying and was also an active threat in the first game.

Even at 30, Diani continues to be a really effective player as displayed by her 26 goal contributions across her 29 appearances for OL Lyonnes last season (16 goals, 10 assists). Diani is also incredibly consistent, she’s scored 14+ goals in each of the last seven seasons.

This has the makings of a blockbuster opening game for both France and England who will need to be switched on from the very first game of this tournament given how tough the group may turn out to be with Netherlands and Wales making up the remaining sides.

France have serious scoring power, they’ve scored 2+ goals in each of their last five matches and saw BTTS in their final warm-up game of the tournament against Brazil in which they ran out 3-1 winners. They have the individual talent to match England all over the pitch which should create quite an entertaining fixture.

England have seen BTTS in recent fixtures against Spain and Belgium as part of their participation in the Women’s Nations League. England scored 16 goals across those six fixtures, but shipped six goals which suggests that there is a defensive frailty to Sarina Wiegman’s side which may become more apparent later on in the tournament - Millie Bright is a big absence for England at the back. 

Sarina Wiegman’s side have had a chaotic build-up to the tournament with players dropping out of the squad due to injury but they are in a good position here to get their EURO campaign off to a strong start. England have only lost two of their last 10 matches across all competitions, this run includes a 1-0 win over Spain who are the most complete nation at this tournament.

France have also been pretty strong of late but may struggle against opponents of the calibre of England who they haven’t really faced regularly in recent months. France’s Nations League group was far too easy for them with France winning all six games and only conceding two goals so they haven’t been tested by a side with the quality of England in a competitive environment for some time.

These sides were actually in the same qualifying group for this competition. The first meeting was won by France before England got their revenge in the reverse fixture so the head-to-head record coming into this fixture is also pretty even.