World Cup comment: Fast starts, late drama, ferocity and violence - the story of England v France

England's at times fraught relationship with France has extended to their competitive footballing meetings and occasionally boiled over. It usually provides something to talk about and is rarely boring.

In terms of their World Cup head to head, it is the English who have won both meetings thus far, with all roads now leading to the Al Bayt Stadium. Here's hoping.

The last game was way back in June 1982 in Bilbao, with Three Lions supporters old enough to remember events at the San Memes inwardly hoping that Jude Bellingham can do a very passable impersonation of Bryan Robson, the hero of the hour on that hot afternoon.

Robson scored one of the fastest goals in World Cup history after just 27 seconds en route to a double. The late Paul Mariner also scored on a day when Ron Greenwood's decision to switch Doncaster-born Graham Rix to a left-sided role in the second half bore fruit.

England won 3-1 in that group meeting in a competition which left an indelible impression upon their current manager in Gareth Southgate. It was the first World Cup he can recall and he is now entrusted with making more positive memories against France.

Their previous meeting came on English soil in 1966. The hosts prevailed, but not without controversy.

A brace of goals from Roger Hunt booked a quarter-finals berth in a game which saw Jimmy Greaves exit the field with a deep gash and Nobby Stiles booked for a crunching tackle on France’s Jacques Simon.

The implacable Alf Ramsey ignored calls from Football Association officials to drop Stiles. ''If Stiles goes, so do I,' said the wonderfully uncompromising England chief.

Uncompromising was a fairly mild word to describe one incident in an infamous Malmo meeting between the two cross-Channel rivals in a group meeting at the 1992 European Championship finals.

A goalless draw is chiefly remembered for a head butt administered by powerhouse French defender Basile Boli upon Stuart Pearce.

Brutal was perhaps the best word for the pair’s next group meeting in the European finals almost exactly 12 years later in Lisbon.

It saw the irrepressible, magnificent Zinedine Zidane score a typically majestic free-kick and a penalty in injury time to break the hearts of the English, who had led through Frank Lampard and seen a David Beckham penalty saved by Fabian Barthez.

Their last competitive meeting, also in a European finals, came in 2012. Records show that another group game saw a fine strike from Samir Nasri cancel out Joleon Lescott's opener.

The game is perhaps now chiefly remembered for the venue - the Donbass Arena in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, a city sadly now ravaged by war a decade on.

While there has been animosity on the field between English and the French at times, the above is a remainder that for all the importance of Saturday night, football is still only a game.

The staging of a game between the two great nations at Wembley was the story in November 2015.

England's 2-0 friendly win paled into insignificance, in truth.

It was staged amid the backdrop of some dreadful terrorist atrocities in Paris four days earlier, with both squads and sets of fans coming together in an emphatic declaration of solidarity.

Wembley was bathed in the colours of the French tricolor, for one night only, on a moving evening. Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite.