England vs France record: How Three Lions compare against Les Bleus in tournament football ahead of World Cup clash
ENGLAND will meet France for the sixth time in tournament football when the two teams clash in the World Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
While the Three Lions have a 100 per cent World Cup record, the record overall is just in England’s favour, with two wins to one and a couple of games drawn.
The nation is getting excited ahead of Saturday, with a real belief growing that Gareth Southgate’s men can dethrone Kylian Mbappe and Co in Qatar.
SunSport looks at the five previous games:
1966 World Cup Wembley – England 2 France 0
A goal in each half from Roger Hunt ensured Alf Ramsey’s side topped their opening group and maintained Wembley advantage for the knock-out phase.
Hunt nudged in from close range after Jack Charlton headed a Jimmy Greaves cross against the post before the Liverpool man’s header was helped into the net by French keeper Marcel Aubour.
1982 World Cup Bilbao – England 3 France 1
England’s first World Cup Finals match in 12 years had a lightning start as Bryan Robson stole the six yard box to hook home after just 27 seconds.
France equalised through Gerard Soler but Robson rose majestically to meet a Trevor Francis cross and put England back in the lead before Paul Mariner volleyed in when the ball deflected to him in front of goal.
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1992 European Championship Malmo – England 0 France 0
A pretty dour affair in Sweden which left both sides needing something that proved beyond them in their final match.
Stuart Pearce was at the centre of both the good and bad, staying on his feet despite a butt from Basile Boli that opened up a cut on his right cheek and then thwacking a free-kick against the bar with England’s best moment of a forgettable encounter
2004 European Championships Lisbon – England 1 France 2
Ask any England player or fan how they lost this one and they will still struggle to find an answer.
Sven Goran Eriksson’s team were outstanding for 90 minutes.
Shame about the “plus four”.
Frank Lampard’s header deserved to be the winner after Wayne Rooney tortured the holders’ back line.
But all that hard work was destroyed by an injury-time Zinedine Zidane double, a free-kick after Emile Heskey’s foul outside the box and then a penalty after Steven Gerrard’s back pass straight to Thierry Henry sold David James short.
2012 European Championships Donetsk – England 1 France 1
Roy Hodgson had been parachuted in just weeks before following Fabio Capello’s resignation and England expectations were low.
But Hodgson’s military 4-4-2 approach doused the French and earned a deserved draw.
Joleon Lescott got on the end of a Gerrard free-kick to head England in front but Samir Nasri snaked a low drive in to level before the break.
The second half was pretty tame, in truth.