Follow updates from England vs Serbia on i‘s live blog
England start their Euro 2024 campaign in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday against Serbia, hoping to go one better than the final they reached three years ago.
Gareth Southgate’s side have all the attacking tools they need to go all the way in Germany, but defensive concerns have dogged the pre-tournament chat.
Meanwhile Serbia, led by former Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, come into the tournament off a 3-0 win over Sweden and have some big names across the pitch.
Here’s everything you need to know about England’s first game of Euro 2024.
England vs Serbia will kick off at 8pm BST on Sunday 16 June, the third game of the day after Poland vs the Netherlands (2pm) and Slovenia vs Denmark (5pm).
England are in Group C, alongside Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia, and their second game kicks off four days later in Frankfurt.
The first game of England’s Euro 2024 campaign will be aired on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, available to anyone who has a BBC account.
Coverage of the game starts from 7pm BST, one hour before kick-off. Gary Lineker will present the coverage, while viewers can also expect to hear from ex-England stars Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, who are among the BBC’s pundits for this tournament.
Guy Mowbray and Alan Shearer will be in the gantry as commentator and co-commentator.
England’s biggest issues are in defence. While Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw is back in team training after a long injury absence, he is not at full speed yet and will not start against Serbia.
This means natural right-back Kieran Trippier will fill in down the left, next to an expected centre-back pairing of John Stones and Marc Guehi.
Stones has recovered from a knock he picked up in the 1-0 pre-tournament defeat to Iceland but spent Wednesday in isolation with a sickness bug.
But he has recovered from this and returned to training on Thursday, indicating he should be fine to start against Serbia.
There is better news further forward for England, with their attacking corps appearing to be at full strength.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has been handed the No 8 shirt and is expected to start next to Declan Rice.
Bukayo Saka has seemingly shaken off a groin injury so should be prepared to start on the right, with Phil Foden likely operating down the left.
In the centre, Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham will have captain Harry Kane ahead of him.
And Serbia appear to be at full strength, with Mitrovic expected to be joined by Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic up front.
In midfield, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is joined by Fulham powerhouse Sasa Lukic, although there are less recognisable names in defence.
Former Southampton and Ajax attacking midfielder Dusan Tadic, now 35 and at Fenerbahce, is captain and likely to start behind the strike partnership.
Tadic remains one of just 16 players to have received a 10/10 rating from French newspaper L’Equipe, for his performance in the Champions League with Ajax against Real Madrid in 2019.
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