The night football became a sideshow in France

PARIS: France won 2-0 the last time they played world champions Germany on November 13, 2015 but few that night cared about soccer.

As the French and German players contesting the game in Marseille on Thursday know very well, events off the pitch dominated the night.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks which killed 130 people across Paris, including 90 at the Bataclan concert hall.

Two explosions were clearly heard in the first half from inside the ground, located on the outskirts of Paris. The game continued and the players had to wait until after the final whistle to find out what had happened.

Waiting for the French team on the way to the changing rooms were junior Minister of Sport Thierry Braillard and French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet.

The players were told that gunmen had launched several attacks across the capital and that three suicide bombers had blown themselves up outside the stadium.

France striker Antoine Griezmann had a horrible feeling when he heard that shootings were taking place at a rock concert at the Bataclan Hall. He knew his sister Maud was at a concert but he did not know which one, so he made inquiries.

“Thank God, my sister was able to get out of the Bataclan,” he tweeted a bit later. At the Stade de France, the fans, who had felt something was wrong when they saw a helicopter fly over at halftime, were told to stay inside for about 20 minutes after the game.

The Germans were forced to spend the night in the stadium.

“We feel safe here and are not thinking about it,” said Germany centre back Jerome Boateng, who has not brought his family to Paris on security concerns.

Giroud said he had spoken to Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil, his team mate at Arsenal, after the November 13 game.

“We were all in a state of shock, French and German” he said. “Whether that has changed anything to our relations with Germany, I don’t know. We still want to push them aside”.