‘I want to avoid England’, Wales manager Chris Coleman tells talkSPORT

Coleman, speaking in Paris ahead of the draw, told Press Association Sport: “It is weird that we were top seeds for the World Cup draw and bottom seeds for this one”. Why not have a tough one close to home? “I think Roy’s going to continue in that role to the World Cup and I know he’s motivated to do it and I think we’ll be in that position”. I respect Wales and the Ireland teams.

“When it comes to draws though you are just happy your name is in the hat because it is such a lottery”.

“It will be important to remember why we are here and that is to get out of our group”.

Should England or Wales win Group B they will play a third-placed team from Group A, C or D. Finish second and they will play the runners up of Group F. To win 10 games like they did in the qualifying campaign is a fantastic return. It doesn’t matter who you play, you’ve got to concentrate on yourselves.

“Slovakia are a good team and beat Spain in qualifying so they have a lot to say, Russian Federation are good offensively but they can leak goals. You’ve got to be prepared, be ready”.

“We’ve got a very interesting group”, he said. “As for Russian Federation, we played them previous year, they have a good defence which has played a long time together”.

Before that, England will begin their campaign against Russian Federation in Marseille on June 11, on the same day as Wales play their first game at a major tournament since 1958 against Slovakia in Bordeaux.

The Republic of Ireland must negotiate matches with Sweden on 13th June, Sweden on 17th June and Italy on 22nd June.

Swansea caretaker manager and former Wales worldwide Alan Curtis, who saw his side lose 2-1 at Manchester City on Saturday, believes Wales should be feared after their rise up the world rankings in the last two years.

“We’re certainly looking forward to playing England”, Slutsky added, before admitting he didn’t know too much about the Welsh side.

“It’ll be nice to get a bit of time on the pitch before the England game”, said Coleman.

“There are some obvious targets that we’ll have”, Ford said following the draw in Paris. “There is no reason why we shouldn’t”.

The 2014 World Cup champions open against Ukraine on June 12 in Lille.

Elsewhere, hosts France will no doubt be pleased with their Group A line-up which sees them scheduled to face Romania, Albania and Switzerland.

Of Liverpool’s other likely Euro 2016 participants, Emre Can will aim for a place in a Germany squad that has been pitted against Ukraine, Poland and Northern Ireland in Group C.

“The great thing is we have no star players”.