‘We’re building towards Euro 2016’

Laurent Koscielny says the France squad are making good progress as they build towards hosting the 2016 European Championship.

Les Bleus performed well at this year's World Cup, impressing many before being knocked out by eventual champions Germany in the quarter-finals.

Now the Arsenal centre back has his eye on success in his homeland in two years’ time - and he is confident France have the team to compete.

“We are excited because we will play at home,” Koscielny told Arsenal Player. “When you play at home you have more pressure, but it's very exciting to be in your country.

“You can smell the atmosphere around the stadiums and it's very different. I remember the World Cup in 1998 and it was amazing, so I think all French people want to have the same in two years.

“If you have the legs to win at home it's exceptional. We have a lot of players with good quality and experience. We will do everything for our country to win the European Championship.”

Koscielny was encouraged by France’s performances in Brazil, and believes it bodes well for the future of the national team.

“I think we played well and had a good tournament,” he said. “Before the World Cup, a lot of people didn't see us getting to the quarter-finals as we played with a young team, as well as some experienced players like Patrice Evra.

“The atmosphere was good, our players talked with each other and it's very important to be happy in the squad. You can translate this on the pitch and I think that’s what we did.

“We lost against Germany but they had more experience because they had played a lot of games [together] before. A lot of players played for Bayern Munich, and they [also] played at the 2010 World Cup.

“That was the difference between us, but it was important to play this game because we have more experience now because we played against a big team in the World Cup. It can help us.”