Deschamps relaxed despite injury blows

World Cup holders France may have been rocked by the withdrawal of Ballon d'or winner Karim Benzema but manager Didier Deschamps insists his squad can cope with their growing injury list.

Benzema was forced out of the tournament with a thigh injury over the weekend, joining a list of absent senior players including N'golo Kante, Presnel Kimpembe, Paul Pogba and Christopher Nkunku.

Speaking on the eve of his side's first game against Australia, Deschamps admitted Les Bleus were now without some of their bigger characters but said: "I've got 25 players in my squad. I'm convinced

I have the efficient number of players to be able to deal with the challenges we face.

"Before [in previous tournaments] we had 22, 23. Now it is 26 and we are at 25. There are lots of possibilities, lots of players on the bench and therefore I believe we have everything we need."

He added: “There's no anxiety, every is calm and there are cool heads."