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Arsenal will be signing at least one defender this summer, that much is clear. With Squillachi's contract due to end and Johan Djourou hoping for a permanent move to Hannover where he is currently on loan, Arsenal have just three centre backs. Even if you think they are good enough, that leaves the Gunners one short in the squad, but most Gooners would agree that Arsene Wenger needs to sign a central defender who will improve the starting line up, not just be cover.

szólj hozzá: VAL

Valencia became the first of three Spanish clubs to march to the Europa Cup semi-finals. The semi-finals will be an all Iberian affair with Sporting Lisbon joining Valencia, Athletic Bilbao, and Atletico Madrid.

Los Che swamped AZ Alkmaar. Adil Rami scored a brace with Jordi Alba and Pablo Hernandez adding to the tally.

Valencia AZ 2012 4-0 Highlights Europa League Rami Alba Hernandez Goals Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Valencia advanced to the next stage of Europa League and simply glad not to pay for their mistakes in throwing away a four goal advantage into only having two for the second leg against PSV Eindhoven.

Adil Rami's goal was obviously the show for El Che on the night as not only he was the one scoring the La Liga side's only goal in a1-1 draw, but the French international also got himself send off, leaving some scarce in the last few minutes for his team.

szólj hozzá: Spain 2 0 France hoofoot.com

Samir Nasri gets the vote for the most disappointing footballer of this Euro. At least Franck Ribery can look back and say he put in the mileage albeit all in futility. But Nasri introduced in the second half to up the tempo and connect Karim Benzema to the centre showed no desire to impose his undoubted talent.

France midfielder Marvin Martin, who has previously been linked to both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, has decided to move to Ligue 1 outfit Lille.

Martin, 24, played for Sochaux last season amid reports that continuously linked him with a move to the Barclays Premier League.

However, after discussing his prospects with several Les Bleus teammates during Euro 2012, he chose to sign with last season's Ligue 1 second runners-up.

szólj hozzá: France vs Ukraine 2:0 MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Jeremy Menez, the former AS Roma winger is one talented player with dizzying bursts of acceleration, great ball skills, and perfect crosses. He was a menace all evening. France who were all over Ukraine went ahead with the trident of Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema, and Menez, with the winger left footing the ball past goalie, Andriy Pyatov near post for a perfect finish.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain may get his start under Roy Hodgson

In a few hours, Roy Hodgson's England squad will be facing Les Bleus, in one of the most anticipated matches in this Euro.

The key to an England victory will be to take expose the potential vulnerabilities at the heart of the French defense in either centre pairing of Adil Rami and Phillipe Mexes or Laurent Koscielny.

Group D

The first half of this Euro-2012 warm-up friendly ended 2-0 to Iceland. Both of their goals were great, and France's defending was poor. Shocking, even. Naive. Amateurish. School boy.

I really wasn't too bothered. Up front we always looked likely to score, and Benzema looked like the clear danger man.

From UEFA.com:

France: Lloris, Réveillère, Rami, Koscielny, Clichy, Debuchy, Cabaye, Ribéry, Malouda, M'Vila, Benzema

Spain: Casillas, Piqué, Ramos, Arbeloa, Alba, Iniesta, Xavi, F� bregas, Alonso, Busquets, Silva

Nasri has been dropped.

Mexes and Ben Arfa have both been left out.

Sweden 2, France 0

The no-hopers from Sweden had all the joy tonight against a dull France side.

France lined up something like this:

Benzema
Ribery Nasri BenArfa
M'Vila Diarra
Clichy Mexes Rami Debuchy
Lloris

Blanc got it wrong, but France are still through to the quarterfinals, against Spain on Saturday.

16:45 CET (10:45 a.m. Eastern) Friends, I'll throw the starting line-ups on here when they're available, and any last-minute talking points. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. If nothing else, I'll pop in with my expressions of joy or despair at halftime.

Come on you Blues.

The first thing making the rounds is that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will start for England.

So Blanc has named part of his preliminary (provisional) squad: the ones who don't play in France (according to Reuters): 12 players total.

Defenders
1. Gael Clichy (Manchester City)
2. Patrice Evra (Manchester United)
3. Younes Kaboul (Tottenham Hotspur)
4. Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)
5.

It was great to see France back in action, and it was great to get a couple goals away from home, but there's no escaping that this was a friendly played at 3/4 speed.

I had the impression that Germany were more poor than France were good, but a victory away to Germany is always welcome.

Here's how we lined up:

Giroud
Ribery Nasri Valbuena
M'Vila Cabaye
Abidal Mexes Rami Debuchy
Lloris (C)

Lloris is the full-time captain now, which is no surprise, and he did well to keep Germany out at least a couple times.