PARIS (AP) France's billing as one of the European Championship favorites means nothing to captain Hugo Lloris, who is demanding a strong start in Friday's opening match against Romania.
Although France is in good form, scoring 13 goals in the past four matches, it has played only friendly games since losing to Germany in the World Cup quarterfinals two years ago.
''There's a lot of expectation. We know the importance of this match, how important it is to make a good start,'' Lloris said on Thursday at the pre-match news conference. ''We've played friendlies for two years and there have been a lot of positives, but things start for real tomorrow.