Lucy Bronze was "shocked" that France did not select Wendie Renard in their Euro 2025 squad and thinks they could be "weakened" without her.
The Lionesses start the defence of their title in Zurich on Saturday (20:00 BST) against France in the first of three group matches.
Chelsea defender Bronze won three successive Women's Champions League trophies between 2017 and 2020 alongside Renard, who was captain of their Lyon side.
However, France manager Laurent Bonadei said he went with "a different selection" that was "not made in the spur of the moment" when explaining his reasoning for rejecting 34-year-old Renard, who has made 168 international appearances and had been captain.
"Wendie is a good friend of mine. She's the epitome of what I would describe as a captain figure," said Bronze.
"When I was at Lyon, everything she did as a person and as a player, there was nothing you could fault. I'm sure she will be devastated not to be part of the Euros.
"The manager went a different way. That's how football works sometimes. It's a big shock.
"I want to play against Wendie. For me, not taking someone like that could weaken the French team. I want to play against the strongest French team."
Bronze will face familiar players in England's tournament opener, including Chelsea's Sandy Baltimore and former Lyon team-mate Selma Bacha.
The two nations know each other well having met in Euro 2025 qualifying, with both teams picking up a 2-1 victory away from home.
England have won three of their past six matches against France but are looking to win back-to-back games against them for the first time since 1974.
France have a strong record in the group stages, last suffering defeat by Germany in 2009. They've started each of their past five Euros tournaments with a win.
Meanwhile, Lionesses' boss Sarina Wiegman has won all 12 of her matches at the Euros, guiding the Netherlands and England to glory in 2017 and 2022.
Both these nations have ambitions of going all the way in Switzerland and it is regarded as the biggest heavyweight clash of the group stages.
"There's a lot of respect between the teams because we have faced off so regularly," said Bronze.
"I don't think France necessarily fear England, they just have a lot of respect and think we have a very talented team – it's the same with them.
"We get to test ourselves against the good teams straight away. There are no surprises going through the tournament. We know the standard that you have to be at.
"When you get to these tournaments, you want to play in the big games against the best players. Why not have it in your first game?"
England forward Lauren James came off the bench to play 30 minutes in their friendly win over Jamaica on Sunday and she has trained this week in Zurich.
Asked if she was ready to start the match, England manager Sarina Wiegman said: "We are not going to give you the line-up. She played 30 minutes last week and she can play more than that. She is in a good place."
Meanwhile, France will be without centre-back and leader Griedge Mbock because of a calf injury.
"Unfortunately Griedge is still feeling a bit uneasy with her calf. It is the beginning of the competition. We don't want any risks," said manager Laurent Bonadei.
"She will be with us [at training on Friday] but not on the field [against England] unfortunately for us.
"Last week they carried out examinations and they revealed no tearing or ruptures so it's a bit of fatigue. I'm quite confident she will be able to join us shortly."
