France squad arrive at Clairefontaine ahead of Euro 2020 qualifiers

Having conquered the world last summer, France are turning their attentions to Europe - with N'Golo Kante especially keen.

The French football squad, including Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, arrived at the national training base in Clairefontaine on Monday morning.

Pogba, Mbappe and Griezmann all looked happy to be back on international duty, waving and giving thumbs up to the cameras as they gathered.

However none could match the enthusiasm of Chelsea midfielder Kante, who reportedly arrived for international duty at the crack of dawn.

According to French newspaper L'Equipe, Kante arrived at Clairefontaine at 6.30am, despite the players not being required to arrive until noon - five and a half hours early.

Clairefontaine is an expansive facility, featuring bedrooms and eating facilities along with training grounds, football pitches and a gym. It served as the template for England's St. George's Park.

It is likely Kante caught an early flight to France after featuring in Chelsea's 2-0 Premier League defeat at Everton on Sunday and rested up in one of the domitories.

L'Equipe also said that Bayern Munich forward Kingsley Coman was also early, arriving at France HQ by 11am.

Coman was presumably looking to make a good impression on France manager Didier Deschamps, as this is his first call up since November 2017.

France begin their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign on Friday away to Moldova, before hosting Iceland the following Monday.

They will be hoping to complete a repeat of the World Cup in Russia last summer, where France emerged as champions by beating Croatia 4-2 in the final.

It would emulate France's previous World Cup winning team - after triumphing on home soil in 1998, they won Euro 2000 after beating Italy via a golden goal in the final.