England Will Prefer Germany/Portugal To France – Gary Neville

England would be huge underdogs against France if they meet in the knockout round of Euro 2020, Gary Neville has said. He, however, revealed that the English team will stand a good chance if it faces Germany or Portugal.

According to him, the players and manager have done the job in the group stage superbly but they’ll definitely have a giant of a team to face next Tuesday.

He added that winning games against teams like France or Germany will take something really special and spectacular, and England must be ready to provide that.

His words, “It’s likely to be Germany or France, maybe Portugal,”

“We’re in a good place. In the back of our minds we’ve got a giant of a team to face next Tuesday, but in terms of the job we were asked to do in the group phase, the players and manager have done that in comfortable fashion, keeping clean sheets.”

“But the reality will kick in for these players later on in the week, they have a giant of a game on Tuesday. It’s an event in itself and one which would elevate confidence beyond belief if they were to win. But to win those games against a team like France or Germany takes something really special and spectacular.”

“We would be massive underdogs against France, against Germany we have an opportunity, Portugal even more so. You cannot go more than a 50-50 chance against Germany and Portugal, for France I’d go 70-30 against, that is not being negative or pessimistic, it’s realistic.”

“Look at the France teamsheet and tell me how many England players would get in ahead of Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Karim Benzema, Raphael Varane. They have a damn good team. All of England’s potential opponents have good players and while we should be confident we have to realise our opponents will be confident as well and that it will be tough to win.”

“Grealish, Saka and Sterling’s performances gave everybody a lift in the first half and there was a lot more energy in the game and we looked a lot more balanced,”

“That brought an energy to the performance generally and, all of a sudden, the rest of the players looked energetic with them. Those three players moved around so quickly like bees that were buzzing and everything felt more enthusiastic.”

On Maguire, “It was critical for Maguire to come back in last night. Tyrone Mings has done really well, but there was a level of order with Maguire on the ball,”

“We’ve seen over the last 12 months with empty stadiums that he is vocal and will dig out his team-mates.”

“Along with Harry Kane and Jordan Henderson, who isn’t playing all the time at the moment, Maguire is the figurehead on the pitch that this England team needs.”