No way though: Fabregas runs into Chelsea wall

 Yet Italy are far from alone in recognising the best team do not always win. England have arrived here with seemingly limited ambitions, too. Until misfortune intervened, manager Roy Hodgson's plan was to reunite three of Chelsea's first-choice back four, perhaps with Champions League- winning captain Frank Lampard in one of the guarding midfield positions.

 Hodgson appears irritated by the suggestion that his chief aim is to make England hard to beat, but if his wide choices against France on Monday are Stewart Downing and James Milner, it will grow harder to refute allegations of conservatism.

 England could then be filed with the list of teams that have travelled east in the hope of carving victory rather than signing it off with a flourish. Certainly the ambition of their football may bear little  comparison to that of Laurent Blanc's France team who, while not without faults, are growing more confident and expansive after 21 games without defeat.

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