Euro 2012: Nasri hopes to help France beat ‘favourites’ England

Samir Nasri wants to bring his Manchester City form into the European championship and help France beat Group D “favourites” England in their opening game on Monday.

The attacking midfielder, who helped City seal their first top-flight title since 1968 last season, considers Roy Hodgson’s England to be favourites to reach the quarter-finals ahead of Laurent Blanc’s youthful side, Sweden and Ukraine.

“I really enjoyed my first season with City and I want to carry that form into the national team as well,” Nasri told City’s website. “I think it’s fair to say that we are the outsiders as far as qualifying from our group.

“I think England are the favourites because they have some good young players and also players like Wayne Rooney – who will of course miss the first two games. This is a good thing for us.

“We are a young team lacking experience in this kind of competition. This is an open group for me and anything could happen.”

Nasri, who completed a £25m move from Arsenal to the Eastlands outfit last August, believes City’s Premier League title success will prove crucial for the club as they look to build upon their initial triumph.

“We needed to win the Premier League so that people in England and Europe stopped talking about Manchester City as a club with money and see that this a club with a soul and great passion,” he added.

“When you walk around Manchester, you can see this is a team with its heart in the city and the people love this club and have done for many, many years – not just because we have money and can afford to buy great players – they’ve always been that way.”

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