‘Merci’ from the metro to the Louvre
The football world champions have returned to Paris to a heroes’ reception with a huge crowd of fans lining the Champs-Elysees in red, white and blue to celebrate France’s triumph at the Fifa World Cup in Russia.
It was a spectacular show as French fighter jets flew above the famous avenue in France’s capital with plumes of smoke of the nation’s colours after the team’s second World Cup success after they first won it on home soil in 1998.
France’s squad began parading the golden trophy after departing their plane at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, where a red carpet was laid out as captain Hugo Lloris and manager Didier Deschamps led the World Cup winners home.
An open-top bus with players, coaches and staff made its way through Paris and up the Champs-Elysees to meet with President Emmanuel Macron for a reception before an ecstatic, colourful crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
Macron was first pictured celebrating next to Russia President Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium where France won the final with a 4-2 victory over Croatia on Monday.
The players led the celebrations though and were seen dancing on tables after the final, serenading midfielder N’Golo Kante, one of the triumphant squad’s unsung heroes.
The Paris metro has temporarily renamed six stations in honour of France’s World Cup victors as part of the capital’s salute: the Notre-Dame des Champs becomes Notre Didier Deschamps, while one of the central stops is renamed Deschamps Elyse´es-Cle´menceau, and another was changed to Victor Hugo Lloris.
The Louvre museum also congratulated the team by tweeting an image of the Mona Lisa wearing France’s national football jersey with two stars representing their World Cup victories.
On arrival at Charles de Gaulle, airport personnel and Sports Minister Laura Flessel, a former champion fencer, were the first to tell them ‘‘merci’’ on behalf of a grateful nation that was sorely in need of a boost.
‘‘Eternal Happiness’’ read the headline in French sports daily summing up the mood of the many who hoped the euphoria would last for months, or even years.
Celebrations were spread across the nation, and among the still-dazed French players themselves.
‘‘We are linked for life now with this Cup,’’ defender Raphael Varane told
Sports Minister Flessel told radio that the World Cup victory allowed France’s youth – like those in the poor suburbs where many of the players grew up – ‘‘to dare to believe in their dreams’’.