Euro 2012: England played like Chelsea, claims Patrice Evra

Patrice Evra has compared England’s Euro 2012 performance against France to Chelsea’s battling Champions League display against Barcelona.

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Roy Hodgson’s side were forced to drop deeper and deeper as French duo Franck Ribéry and Karim Benzema threatened to deny England a point in their Group D opener on Monday after Joleon Lescott’s header had been cancelled out by Samir Nasri.

Evra, who is featuring in his third international tournament, felt the Three Lions’s tactics were similar to those deployed by Roberto Di Matteo’s Chelsea side in their aggregate victory over Barcelona on their way to winning the Champions League last season.

“I think we played much better than England, but in the end it was a draw and we are a bit frustrated,” said Evra after Monday’s 1-1 draw in Donetsk.

“They played in the way that Chelsea played against Barcelona. At times it was like there were 15 bodies on the pitch.

“People laugh and maybe they want England to play more football, but if they win the tournament playing like that, they will be happy.”

Meanwhile, France manager Laurent Blanc conceded England were the better team in the opening stages of the game, and the 46-year-old wants his side to start their next game against Ukraine in a more positive manner.

“England were excellent for the first 20 minutes,” Blanc said. “We took a while to get into the game and, as ever, we were punished.

“Perhaps it was inexperience but we didn’t start the game as we’d hoped to. Had we not reacted we could have lost this game.

“I hope that doesn’t happen again. In the next game, we have to get into it right from the outset.”

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Read more on: Chelsea, England, Euro 2012, france, Laurent Blanc, patrice evra, Roy Hodgson.