Mutu was one of several players who looked out of touch in the dour goalless draw with France on Monday but the 29-year-old can at least point to the fact his mind may have been on other matters.

At the start of last week, Mutu's lawyer claimed his client had been ordered to pay former club Chelsea £9.6million for testing positive for cocaine in 2004.

A few days later, the Fiorentina star learned of the death of his 80-year-old grandmother.

Mutu had been extremely close to her having spent much of his childhood in her home in Calinesti, a spa resort in the Carpathian mountains, 150km north-west of Bucharest.

With all that thrown at him in a short space of time, it therefore came as no surprise to see the former Parma forward struggle against France.

But Mutu is hoping for a return to form when they take on Italy on Wednesday.

"I didn't play like I know I can play," he said.

"With what happened to me this week, with my grandmother dying, it made it difficult for me.

"But there were a lot of people in the crowd giving me a lot of encouragement and I hope in the next game I can do better for the team."

Romania coach Victor Piturca, who had no qualms starting with Mutu but brought the forward off with 12 minutes remaining, added: "He is okay.

"He could not play for a while in the lead-up to the game and in our preparation, but he has managed to play until the 78th minute here.

"I'm sure in the game against Italy, you will see the real Mutu."

Mutu and his colleagues were delighted to have picked up a point against France in the opening match of a pool that has been dubbed the 'Group of Death'.

With matches against the Italians, the world champions, and Holland to come, it is not going to get any easier.

But the obduracy they demonstrated at the Letzigrund against an underperforming France outfit should stand them in good stead.

"Looking at the three teams with us, we are behind them but we believe in ourselves," Mutu added.

"To be the best in Europe, you have to play against these teams.

"We are very happy. He (Piturca) has decided on his tactics and we have got what we want - to get a point against France.

"We will continue to defend like hell."

Romania captain Cristian Chivu echoed Mutu's thoughts by saying: "We tried to start the competition without losing and we are happy with the one point.

"We are very confident ahead of the next two games. We know what we can do when we play like we did here.

"Maybe we can give a bit more in attack but when we are organised, we can play very well.

"France are a great team, a team that two years ago reached the final of the World Cup.

"It's a team that still contains guys who have won the World Cup and the European Championships. It is not easy to play against an experienced team like this.

"But we showed that a small team like us - and that is how most people consider us - can still pick up great results."

On this evidence, France are a team living on past glories.

Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira, two of their World Cup winners in 1998, were both absent with thigh injuries and were missed.

And Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, young players of whom much is expected, failed to shine as France struggled to muster any clear-cut chances in a turgid encounter in Zurich.

But coach Raymond Domenech claims there is still a long way to go in this group yet, and right-back Willy Sagnol is inclined to agree.

"Why should we be worried?" said the Bayern Munich defender.

"We knew it was going to be difficult and this result has not changed a great deal.

"We wanted to win all three matches, but we could only manage a point here. Everything remains possible."

ends