Italy will have to play without experienced midfielder Valentina Cernoia in their Euro 2022 Group D debut against France.

Cernoia stayed at Italy's headquarters in Blackburn while her teammates travelled to Rotherham where they will start their European campaign on Sunday.

France are amongst the favorites to win the tournament as they arrive at the competition on the back of 14 wins in a row.

Italy are doing well too having lost only two of their last 18 matches, one of which was on penalties against Sweden in the Algarve Cup.

The other two teams in Group D are Belgium and Iceland.

(With input from AP)