Les Bleus, who were among the favourites prior to the tournament in Germany, finished second behind Austria in Group D after some unconvincing performances.

Indeed, their goals came from a Maximilian Wober own goal and a Kylian Mbappe penalty, with France landing itself in the tougher half of the draw along with Spain, Portugal, host Germany and Round of 16 opponent Belgium, which ir plays in Dusseldorf.

That has seen their chances of winning the trophy slip down to 13 per cent, according to Opta's supercomputer, but looking ahead to the clash with Belgium, Duggary, who won the FIFA World Cup in 1998 and UEFA Euro 2000, feels France has nothing to fear.

"Of course, it has individuals, but I don't see why we should be afraid," Duggary said in his role as a television pundit in Europe.

"If we are not capable of beating these Belgians, we [will do] nothing at the European championship."

Dugarry pointed to Belgium's weak defence as a reason for France to be confident.

"[Timothy] Castagne, [Wout] Faes, [Jan] Vertonghen who is 37... They have a midfield with [good] players, but no one defends in this team. For me, they're an enigma.

"[Jeremy] Doku is the same as [Ousmane] Dembele. But given the criticism that we've put on Dembele since the start of the competition, we're not going to say better about Doku.

"I understand the Belgian supporters, who are disappointed. We've been talking to them for years and years about a golden generation. But the golden generation is starting to no longer be golden at all. They have no legs, no aggression."

If France is to take advantage of Belgium's indifferent performances so far, then it will need its forwards to be firing on all cylinders, something defender William Saliba is acutely aware of.

"It’s true we didn't score many goals in the group stage. When you don't score a lot, you have to be focused," Saliba said.

"But that's how it can be when you are playing at the highest level. But I have no doubt that the attackers will be there in the Round of 16 and deliver.

"It's clear that we have to be more dangerous with our set-pieces, especially me. I think I haven't even touched one, so we can do better."

Belgium's attackers similarly misfired in Group E. In fact, only Serbia (3.8 per cent) had a poorer shot conversion rate in the group stage than Belgium and France (both 4.2 per cent - two goals from 48 shots).

France has drawn five of its past six European championship matches (one win), having only drawn four of its previous 25 games in the competition (14 wins, seven defeats). Its Round of 16 match at UEFA Euro 2020 was a 3-3 draw with Switzerland, with Les Bleus eventually going out 5-4 on penalties.

Belgium, meanwhile, has advanced to the knockout stage of a third consecutive European championships, having reached the quarter-finals in 2016 and 2020. The Red Devils have won each of their past four last-16 games at major tournaments since losing to Brazil in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

However, France has won all four of its previous matches against Belgium at major tournaments, scoring 13 goals and conceding only three.

Its only previous meeting at the European championships was 40 years ago, in 1984 – France won 5-0 in the group stages courtesy of a Michel Platini hat-trick and goals from Alain Giresse and Luis Fernandez.

This will be France and Belgium's 76th encounter overall. Les Bleus have faced the Red Devils nearly twice as often as any other team (39 meetings each with Italy and Switzerland). Meanwhile, Belgium has only faced Netherlands (129 times) on more occasions than France.