Injured Rémy out of France squad

Olympique de Marseille forward Loïc Rémy has been forced to withdraw from France's UEFA EURO 2012 squad due to a thigh injury.

The 25-year-old was part of Laurent Blanc's initial 26-man squad and Les Bleus' medical staff had been optimistic he would recover from a torn muscle suffered in a league game against AJ Auxerre on 13 May. However, a scan yesterday showed the healing process was not advancing as quickly as hoped. A statement made last night announced: "Medical staff and coach Laurent Blanc have made the decision not to retain him in the squad."

Having this season hit 12 goals in 29 league games and struck twice in the UEFA Champions League, Rémy will have to wait to contest his first major international tournament. Blanc, meanwhile, is unlikely to call up a replacement as Samir Nasri, Franck Ribéry, Mathieu Valbuena, Jérémy Menez and Hatem Ben Arfa are all capable of playing on the right flank.

The coach still has to eliminate two more players from his current 25-strong group before France open their Group D campaign against England on 11 June, ahead of meetings with Ukraine four days later and Sweden on 19 June. Les Bleus take on Iceland in a friendly in Valenciennes on Sunday, in the first of their three warm-up games.