Fans, teams united in aftermath of Paris attacks

PARIS: From Sao Paulo to Shanghai, London to Prague, sport defiantly united in its condemnat ion of the Paris attacks on Saturday as teams and fans resorted to extraordinary measures in the aftermath of the killings.

The world champion German football team, which had been playing France at Paris’s Stade de France when three suicide bombers struck outside the arena on Friday, took the unusual step of spending the night inside the dressing rooms before flying home on Saturday morning.

“The players were very worried, the information was not very clear and we didn’t want to take any risk on the road, so we decided not to drive through Paris.... (which was) not 100 percent secured and so we stayed in the dressing room,” said Germany manager Oliver Bierhoff.

France will next play England at Wembley in London on Tuesday where even notoriously tribal English fans are being encouraged to learn the words to France’s stirring national anthem, the Marseillaise ahead of the game.

Mark Pougatch, a footbal l presenter with Britain’s ITV television channel, who will be broadcasting the match, tweeted on Saturday: “If you have a ticket for Wembley on Tuesday then it’s time to learn La Marseillaise. Time to show what fraternite is about.”

There had been doubts over whether or not the game would go ahead in the aftermath of the attacks. — AFP