Defender Raphael Varane acknowledged the importance of the two games and urged his team-mates to shrug off the unfortunate absence of Lloris in particular.

Varane told the French Football Federation website: "These are two very important games and playing in Iceland is never easy because it's a great opportunity for them.

"Our captain will not be there and that will be a loss for us because he is a very important player.

"But we have a lot of important players and we have to show good character in order to qualify for the finals. We need solid matches and we need to play at a good level."

Iceland are also without their captain Aron Einar Gunnarsson due to injury and are desperate to bounce back from a disappointing 4-2 defeat in Albania in their last qualifying match last month.

Coach Erik Hamren told a press conference: "Playing against France will be a very interesting challenge and it will be very complicated, but we have nothing to lose.

"Everyone expects France to win but miracles and surprises exist in football, so why not? Iceland might never have beaten France, but inevitably there must be a first time."