A major tournament fixture that has seemed to loom over Gareth Southgate 's Three Lions ever since he was haphazardly installed as manager by the FA five years ago. Les Blues were the opponents waiting for England had they managed to reach the World Cup final in 2018, with Didier Deschamps ' squad continuously looking the strongest and deepest in world football during Southgate's tenure.
Having avoided each another further during last summer's European Championships - which France humiliatingly crashed out of in the round of 16 - and both of the following Nations League campaigns, the day has come at last.
Set to finally face off in Qatar on Saturday evening for a mouthwatering World Cup quarter-final, Three Lions fans will be pleased to learn that Southgate's coaching staff - headed up by assistant Steve Holland - have been preparing for a clash with France for years, stemming from the two nations' last meeting in June 2017.
Played against a backdrop of recent terror attacks in Manchester, London and Paris - prompting Oasis anthem 'Don't Look Back in Anger' to be sang around the Stade De France ahead of kick-off - Southgate decided to use the emotionally-charged international friendly as an opportunity to first experiment with a new formation - one with three central defenders.
Les Blues came out on top in a to-and-fro affair, as Ousmane Dembele 's late winner gave 10-man France a 3-2 victory, but England could take positives - especially considering 12 months prior they'd been dumped out of Euro 2016 by Iceland while hosts France made the final.
Lining up in a 3-4-2-1, Southgate handed Kieran Trippier his first senior cap as a right wing-back, where he may well be employed this Saturday - but this time with Kyle Walker as his partner to combat Kylian Mbappe rather than Phil Jones. Newly-appointed captain Harry Kane lead the line and scored twice; firstly to give the Three Lions an early lead and then to equalise from the penalty spot after Raphael Varane was shown a straight red card for his trip on Dele Alli thanks to VAR.
Raheem Sterling flanked Kane in a supporting role which he'd excel in over the coming years, and Southgate saw the potential that summer's night. "There were some definite positive individual performances," the England manager stated post-match. "I thought Raheem Sterling caused a lot of problems in his position and Harry Kane, the first 50-60 minutes, really led the line well."
As for the new-look setup on the whole, he beamed: "I think it worked really well. It gave us good options on the ball, we moved the ball well and caused France problems with that. But whichever system we played we had a problem with their pace and power.
"That raw athletic ability that France have is what makes them one of the most difficult teams to play against. "It's definitely something that France, at all age groups that I've seen, have."
Southgate then reserved praise for Deschamps' team, who were a year away from becoming world champions after the heartache of their 2016 defeat to Portugal on home soil. Southgate admitted that France were capable of causing his side "huge problems," something which he'll hope isn't repeated this time around.
"They are blistering and they will cause you huge problems on the counter attack if you're not supremely well organised," he warned. "We want to press but against a team like that you have to be spot on, because if you leave gaps and the wrong moments then they will exploit it, and that's what they did."
So what now? Southgate has consistently employed a three-man defence when his side have come up against established nations, such as Germany in the last 16 of Euro 2020, a match which the Three Lions won 2-0. History tells us that he'll do the same again on Saturday, but regardless of which formation England line up in, the 52-year-old still wants to see the same front-foot approach.
Southgate was asked by ITV this week if he wanted to see the Three Lions maintain the attacking intent which has been emphatically on show so far in Qatar. "Yeah, without a doubt," he replied. "There is no point going into a game like this and just covering up and sitting on the ropes. We believe we can cause problems with the ball and we intend to do that.
"We've beaten some big teams. We know we have the experience of high pressure nights behind us and as a team we've been resilient through a lot of situations but they all prepare you for nights like this. We got to the first final for 55 years this is a quarter-final. We've won a semi-final and been to a semifinal of the World Cup before.
Have your say! Should Southgate switch to three at the back vs France? Let us know your verdict in the comments section.
"But, of course, it is a big game against a high quality opponent. Everything that has happened in the past is history, it all comes down to Saturday night. What they have been through and what they’ve learnt and the way we have gone about things in this tournament.
"They've understood what we have been trying to do they've kept calm and shown belief in what they've been asked to do and shown a great mentality about the way they've played. Always these nights are always nights that bring millions of people together. They will remember where they were and we want to give them another night to be proud of."
