Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said his England team face an impossible task in keeping France playmaker Zinedine Zidane under wraps in Sunday's Euro 2004 opener.

Ruling out man-to-man marking, Eriksson said England can only hope the three-times World Player of the Year does not inflict too much damage when they face the European champions.

Quizzed as to whether a diamond midfield or a 'flat' 4-4-2 line-up was more suited to keeping the Real Madrid midfielder quiet, Eriksson told reporters: "To be honest, whatever you play, Zidane will be a headache. He's a headache for everyone.

"He was voted the number one player of the last 50 years and he will create problems for sure over the 90 minutes. Let's hope the problems are not too big."

Eriksson dismissed any idea of using a defensive midfielder to shadow Zidane in what will be a crunch Group B match for both sides before the easier games on paper against Switzerland and Croatia.

"If we mark him man-to-man we will lose a lot of our play and I'm not prepared to do that against anyone," Eriksson said. "I've never done it in my life. Why should I do that now?"

COMMUNICATION KEY

The key to England's hopes of coping with Zidane, along with strikers Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet, he said, lies in the degree of communication between midfielders and defenders.

"When you meet France, you have to talk because you never know if Zidane is going to be on the left side or central, and then on the other side there's (Robert) Pires.

"If you give Pires space, he will beat people, put in crosses or take a shot himself. And up front you have two players who are not bad," he added with a grin.

England captain David Beckham knows Zidane's range of skills better than anyone else in Eriksson's squad after playing alongside him for the past season in Real's midfield.

"Zidane is one of the best players, if not the best player in the world," Beckham said.

"To play with him is a pleasure. But to play against him is going to be a tough game. It's something we have to overcome."

Ominously for England in the run-up to Sunday's game in Lisbon, Zidane said last week he feels at the very top of his form.

The playmaker, whose two goals against Brazil in the final guided France to World Cup glory in 1998, told reporters: "I feel at the peak of my career. I'm going to be 32 years old and this European championship is coming at just the right time."

As if to underline the point, Zidane scored the late winner as France limbered up to face England by beating Ukraine 1-0 in Paris on Sunday night.