Cristian Chivu is excited by the prospect of captaining Romania in the Group C encounter with France.

The Internazionale defender featured in his country's squad at Euro 2000, the last time Romania featured in a major tournament, but Chivu thinks the current team is stronger.

The 27-year-old former Ajax and AS Roma player said: "It's always a great honour to captain your country but to lead your country into the finals of a tournament like this is something else.

"It's been a long time coming for Romania but finally we have made it and we look forward to these games against France, Italy and the Netherlands.

"I was younger when we last played in the European Championship and there's more expectation on me and the other survivors of that team, but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to.

"I've said before that centre-half is my preferred position but I have been playing this role for my country for a while and my manager thinks I do a good job for the team.

"The 11 players who start the match will all have to defend and all have to attack. That's what we did in qualifying and why we were so successful. And we hope to continue that here and now."