Petr Cech says he has a responsibility to help the Czech Republic qualify from a “very difficult group” at the European Championship.
The goalkeeper is one of the most senior figures in the squad, having recently broken the appearance record with 120 international caps in 14 years for his country.
Euro 2016 will be Cech’s fourth major tournament with the Czech Republic and he says his experience can help the younger players feel more comfortable against Spain, Croatia and Turkey.
"We are the two captains, so there is a big responsibility on us and we will try to help everybody prepare, to have the right frame of mind to compete in the tournament"
Petr Cech
“Together with Tomas Rosicky, we are the most experienced players in the team,” he told Arsenal Player. “We are the two captains, so there is a big responsibility on us and we will try to help everybody prepare, to have the right frame of mind to compete in the tournament.
"Some of the players will experience their first European Championship so it is always up to us as senior players to make them feel comfortable.
“We are not the favourites and we have a very difficult group. We have one of the favourites in Spain and probably the dark horse of the tournament in Croatia. You can also never write off Turkey because it’s a team who can, on a good day, play amazingly well and are one of the best teams in the world.
“They are a very dangerous opponent and we have a very difficult group, but we have already had a difficult group in the qualifiers where we had to play Turkey and Holland.
Petr Cech with the Czech Republic team
"Everybody was saying that we were out and that we would be fighting with Iceland for one of the top spots to qualify, but we were the first team to qualify from the group. You never know in football.
“This year, with the extended number of games and number of teams, you have the last-16 round which allows some of the teams in the third spots to qualify. There is a chance. We can even go through by finishing third in the group now so there is a very good chance we will be able to do that.”
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