France and Spain come face to face in a highly-anticipated friendly fixture at the Stade de France on Thursday.
Where to Watch Live
The game is set to begin at 8.00 pm local time (12.30 am IST) with live coverage on Sony Six in India. Viewers can watch the match via live streaming online HERE. Watch the game online in the US on ESPN Deportes and WATCH ESPN, while viewers can also live stream the action HERE. UK audience can watch the match online on Sky Sports 5 HD, while the game can also be live streamed HERE.
The match can be watched in France on TF1, with the live streaming option HERE. Viewers in Spain can catch the live action on TeleCinco Espana, with an option to stream HERE.
After the disappointment of the 2010 World Cup, where they were eliminated from the group stages, France were pretty impressive in Brazil, despite their narrow defeat to Germany in the quarterfinals of the competition.
The Les Bleus put up a good show in the 2014 World Cup, where they recorded some convincing wins against the likes of Honduras (3-0), Switzerland (5-2) and Nigeria (2-0).
However, they will certainly be disappointed at having bowed out of the competition after a narrow 1-0 loss against the Germans.
Now the Les Bleus will be hoping to register a win in their first friendly fixture after the 2014 World Cup.
Although many international teams have decided to give a chance to the players who missed out on the 2014 World Cup, France head coach Didier Deschamps says that he will field the same team against Spain.
"I have not yet seen how everyone is between those who have been playing and those who haven't," Yahoo news quoted Deschamps as saying. "We have two matches very close together but the team which starts on Thursday will be close to that which started against Germany."
Despite many believing France to be the favourites in this game after Spain's performance in the 2014 World Cup, Bacary Sagna feels that the match is going to be very difficult.
"Spain remain one of the best teams in the world,'' ESPN quoted Sagna as saying. "They took a blow and will want to show they are back.''
Spain will indeed be looking to prove themselves following their horrendous show in Brazil, where they were knocked out from the group stages following back-to-back defeats against of Holland (5-1) and Chile (2-0).
Although they were able to salvage some respect by registering a 3-0 win over Australia in their final group fixture, their overall performance was very disappointing.
As a result the La Furia Roja will be desperate to prove themselves against France on Thursday.
Now that the likes of Xavi Hernandez, Xabi Alonso and David Villa have announced their retirement from international football, head coach Vincent Del Bosque has decided to bring in five new faces - Real Madrid right-back Dani Carvajal, Atletico Madrid midfielder Raul Garcia, Valencia striker Paco Alcacer, Espanyol goalkeeper Kiko Casilla and Athletic Bilbao defender Mikel San Jose – as he looks to restore Spain's pride.
Striker Diego Costa, who has been very impressive Chelsea, scoring four goals from three appearances in the Premier League this season, insists that Spain will have to forget their performances in the 2014 World Cup and move on.
"I know I did not play to my expected level at the World Cup, and not just me, but the team. But what's happened has happened and now we have to move on,'' said Costa.
