SILVA INSISTS ON PLAYING

Spain International David Silva insists on playing for his national team despite the injury concerns ahead of the tournament billed for France.

The Manchester City playmaker suffered a hamstring injury in the first leg of his club's Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid last month and has not played since. When he joined the national team, he spoke on the injuries.

"I'm fine. I hope to play in the first game, I'm not sure but I feel good. I have 96 caps and I am excited about reaching 100, to reach that figure would be very nice," he said.

Spain's opening game of the tournament is on June 13 against the Czech Republic. The latest StanJames betting odds for the match make Spain firm favourites.

They also face Turkey and Croatia in Group D. La Roja are the two-time reigning European champions and go into this summer's tournament in France with high hopes despite a dreadful World Cup two years ago. They will hope to win the third title in France.

Silva said: "It's normal to be favourites when we won the last two European Championships."

His confidence is shared by Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who said: "I think that if we are right, we have a good chance to win the European Championship, but we have to prove it on the field. There are great teams like France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, England. We must be more united than ever to achieve our objective, we know that in Brazil we did wrong things. If things are working well, Spain can be champions again."

Fabregas could be used in a "false nine" position, with Athletic Bilbao's Aritz Aduriz and Juventus' Alvaro Morata the only out-and-out strikers in a provisional 25-man squad named last week.

He said: "We have very good strikers. I'll play wherever the coach tells me - I always come here with a smile and to help."