The Czech Republic midfielder thought his dream of playing in the finals had vanished when he sat in the Anfield treatment room in March.

It was another chapter in a frustrating first season in England but he is back to fitness and looking forward to helping his country tackle the flying France, in Bruges.

Smicer also promised Liverpool fans they will see a different player next season.

He said: "I had a lot of injuries and, physically, I wasn't at the top of my form, so I'm sure next season will be better for me at Liverpool. I like it in England and want to stay.

"My last injury was in March. I had been out for two months and the Czech team had started their preparations. I didn't play a full game for them before Euro 2000.

"I played a half against Germany but I felt able to play against Holland. After 70 minutes it was getting difficult. After 80 minutes, I was sore and had cramp."

Smicer came off in the 83rd minute against Holland, in Amsterdam on Sunday, before a controversial last-gasp penalty gave the co-hosts a 1-0 win in Group D.

The Czechs, who were runners-up to Germany in 1996 and qualified for Euro 2000 from Scotland's group with a perfect record of 10 wins from 10 games, are now staring at the prospect of a first round exit.

Defeat against France will send Jozef Chovanec's team spinning out of the competition at the first hurdle and Smicer accepts the heat is on.

Smicer said: "We are under a big pressure because we know, if we lose the game, we will go home. It is a big problem for us because we have to play the world champions and that will be very hard.

"We will try very hard against France because we are a good side but we don't deserve to go home after three matches."

Chovanec, in charge of the Czech Republic since January 1998, said he expected his players to show enough experience and professionalism to put the heartache of Monday's defeat out of their minds.

Instead, he wants his team to focus on the threat of France, and plans to show the players the video tape of the world champions' impressive start to Euro 2000 against Denmark.

Laurent Blanc, Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord were all on target as the French recovered from a poor start to beat the Danes 3-0 in the Jan Bredal Stadium, where they will meet the Czech Republic.

Chovanec said: "I've said many times that France and Holland were among my favourites for this championship.

"France are now in a better psychological situation because they played quite well against Denmark unlike the Netherlands, who didn't meet my expectations."

The Czechs will be without suspended Radoslav Latal, shown a red card for arguing with ref Pierluigi Collina while on the bench in Amsterdam, and Chovanec has doubts over the fitness of Pavel Nedved and Vratislav Lokvenc.