Fabio Capello: Premier League players to shine.. but watch out for Germany

They have lit up the Premier League all season. And now Fabio Capello expects them to illuminate Euro 2008 - and provide a tournament to show England fans exactly what they are missing.

While the Italian would not have been appointed to the England helm if Steve McClaren had done his job properly, he will be in Austria to run his eye over World Cup group opponents Croatia.

But the England boss anticipates the men who will explode on to the tournament are the ones who have helped make club football in this country the best in the world.

All the teams that Capello believes will sparkle - with the exception of the nation any Italian has to back publicly - have Premier League players at their heart.

"My favourites are France, Germany, Italy and Spain - and Portugal possibly," said Capello, hardly a man to take a punt on a long-shot although he did pick Romania out as a possible surprise package.

"The influential players will be Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Torres, along with Franck Ribery for the French, for Italy Luca Toni and Andrea Pirlo.

"Everybody will be looking to see if Ronaldo can do for Portugal what he does for Manchester United, although Portugal are not only Ronaldo.

"The style of Portugal is like Spain, a lot of passes and possession. When you look at the Spanish, with Cesc Fabregas and Torres, they are the team with the most technical quality.

"It is incredible. They have the best midfield in Europe: Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta. But they always fail at finals and I still don't know why. When I was in Spain we spoke about it a lot of times.

"Whenever you come to a tournament, the fans and the media think 'we have one of the best squads in Europe and the world but we never arrive in the semi-finals'. This is a big problem. There is some kind of fear when they have to be competitive against the other big teams.

"Maybe it is the same problem with England. They are countries I have compared for some time."

This time, too, Capello fears for the self-imploding senors. "They are in a difficult group with Sweden, Russia and Greece," he added. "Sweden are strong physically, everyone in England knows about Russia now and Greece are the holders. It's possible there will be another surprise."

There is no surprise about another of Capello's picks, however - the team led by Chelsea's Michael Ballack who face Slaven Bilic's men on Thursday.

Capello explained: "Germany have to be one of the favourites. They are a strong team and they have confidence.

"This is virtually a home tournament for them again. They were a very good team in the World Cup but they are better now.

And unlike anybody else, they like penalties. They know they will always win."

Capello added: "I think Italy will go through, but you know I must say that. But it will not be easy for any of them.

"If I had to choose, I would say Italy and France. Not only are France strong, but they know what to do during games. They have Ribery and Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka too, and that makes them very fast.

"Raymond Domenech is a lucky manager too. He could leave out Gael Clichy, and even Mathieu Flamini initially.

"But I also think Romania are very interesting and very dangerous. They are a very good team."

i FACT

Poland, who make their first appearance at the Euros, host the finals, along with Ukraine, in 2012

CAPELLO'S PREDICTIONS:

Group A: Portugal, Czech Republic; Group B: Germany, Croatia; Group C: France, Italy; Group D: Spain, Russia.

TORRES

49 caps

15 goals

RIBERY

27 caps

4 goals

RONALDO

55 caps

20 goals

TONI

34 caps

15 goals