Laurent Blanc was left with a hefty rebuilding exercise after the reign of Raymond Domenech, which saw the French squad combust internally at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Blanc has done a great deal to galvanise the players and that included dropping all the culprits for his first game in charge of Les Bleus, although Patrice Evra continues to be sidelined despite being a regular feature for Manchester United.

It’s a decision that Sir Alex Ferguson can’t understand, stating: “He has been punished already [with a five-game ban] and I don’t see why he should be punished further unless they are saying he is not good enough.”

However, there is still plenty of quality in the French side and they will have home advantage against another team that disappointed at the 2010 World Cup.

Karim Benzema is finally starting to get regular football in a Real Madrid shirt and will be looking forward to testing himself against a pragmatic Brazil team.

Dunga was relieved of his duties after the Selecao could only reach the quarter finals and the Brazilians will be missing Neymar who is representing his team in the Under-20 Championships.

However, Robinho is enjoying a new lease of life and is likely to partner club team-mate Alexandre Pato in attack, with Mano Menezes likely to field a young team for the visit to the Stade de France.

Match odds:

France, 9/5 with bet365

Draw, 9/4 with Totesport

Brazil, 7/4 with Victor Chandler