Football:

England France Paris terrorist victims remembered on emotional night at stadium

of the Channel belted out La Marseillaise, then the stadium stood for an impeccably observed minute’s silence.

The French team had been cheered from their first appearance to warm up some 50 minutes before kick-off, and again when Prince William led out the two managers, Roy HodgsonandDidier Deschamps, to lay floral tributes.

“We fully respect the decision of the French Football Federation to be here tonight,” readanadditional excerpt to the match programme, “and hopefully the occasion will show that the football world is united against these atrocities.”

On a night when players from both sides mingled for a pre-match photocall, it was one of those rare occasions when half-and-half scarves, being sold bymany a vendor lining Wembley Way, were entirely appropriate.

Of course, it was fitting that football, which found itself at the unwitting centre of the shocking narrativeemergingfromParison Friday night, should present such a poignant and high- profile display of unity.

Among those displaying extraordinary fortitude at Wembleywere Lassana Diarra, whose cousin Asta Diakite was killed in the att a c k s , and A n t o i n e Griezmann, whose sister survived the shooting at the Bataclan music hall.

Not one of the squad members had rejected the opportunity to feature at Wembley.

Yet, amid the kind of moving ceremony at which the sport has proven so adept over the years must come the acknowledgement that the redemptive power of sport remains a purely subjective opinion.

Football alone does not own, and nor does it claim to own, the redemptive qualities required to banish the terror of Friday night. It will not ease the heartwrenching grief, nor change the minds of those intent on committing future atrocities.

An incisive pass or a hatful of goals cannot alter the fact that life will not, for the time being at least, go on entirely as normal, and away from the shine and emotion there were plenty of reminders.

Beneath the filled red tiers, hidden from public view, a van-full of armed, masked soldiers stretched their legs. Meanwhile, in Hanover, the match between Germany and Holland was cancelled barely one hour before kick-off dueto a security threat. The moving scenes atWembley were merely one small part of a much greater whole: defiance mirrored at every rock concert, everyParisian pavement cafe, every way in which we continue to live the kinds of normal lives that the terrorists abhor.

That is at the root of the reason why the final score and all that usually comes with it hardly mattered.

Because all those who defied the desire to spread hatred by coming toWembley on such a night, congregating en masse and embracing the anthem of a nation whose opening bars would so often be drowned in boos, had already guaranteed the right result.

England won 2-0 with goals from Deli Ali and Wayne Rooney.

“Will show the football world is united against these atrocities”

Marc Wilmots: Life is worth more than football Dutch newspaper Telegraaf said one suspicious package was found that was later shown to be harmless. Announcing the cancellation, a stadium public address announcer at the Niedersachsenstadion said: “I’m...