EURO 2016 TEAM PREVIEW: GROUP C - POLAND

Tip: Quarter-finals

Cult hero: Kamil Glik missed out on Euro 2012 after being sent home just as the tournament approached, but he has made up for lost time ever since to become an integral part of the side. He became a cult figure initially at Torino where a rapper dedicated a song to him, surely a dream we all crave!

Star player: If Real Madrid plump for Robert Lewandowski ahead of Juve star Paul Pogba as their latest galactico, La Liga defences will be spending the summer worrying how to stop him. The 27-year-old has plundered goals left, right and centre for Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich these past five years with bullish determination and quick feet his main assets. If Lewandowski purrs, Poland purr.

Player to watch: Should Lewandowski fire any blanks in France, Arkadiusz Milik is well set to help share the load up front. He never really got the rub at Bayer Leverkusen, his loan switch to Ajax two years ago culminating in a permanent move last year under the sheer weight of goals he scored. His left peg is a thing of beauty at times, while his height and strength are thorns in defender’s sides.

How they qualified: In Germany’s slipstream and, just when they thought they had seen the back of them, the powers that be pair them up again this summer. They only lost once in qualifying with Lewandowski’s 13 goals leading the charge alongside promising strike partner Milik and Kamil Grosicki.

Line-up prediction: Fabianski, Piszczek, Glik, Pazdan, Jedrzejczyk, Blaszczykowski, Krychowiak, Zielinski, Grosicki, Lewandowski, Milik