World Cup-winning France on Monday returned home to a hero’s welcome, parading down the Champs-Elysees as hundreds of thousands of cheering fans gave a raucous welcome to the nation’s newest idols.
After overcoming a determined Croatia to win 4-2 in Sunday’s final in Russia, the team came back to euphoric crowds in Paris hoping to catch a glimpse of the players that have captured the nation’s imagination.
The squad did not disappoint, passing the World Cup trophy from player to player as they jumped and danced on an open-air bus with “World Champions” emblazoned on its side.
Photo: Reuters
“Wow, it was completely crazy. They are too beautiful, France is beautiful,” said Julia Cohen, 28, after seeing the players pass by on the Champs-Elysees, the gathering point for all national celebrations.
The parade was under heavy police guard, with 2,000 officers deployed in the capital to ensure the safety of the estimated 300,000 people who turned up.
Above the partying crowds, nine jets from the Patrouille de France, the air force’s acrobatic unit, did an honorary flyover trailing blue, white and red smoke.
After leaving the bus, the players changed into custom-made blue suits before being welcomed at the Elysee Palace by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, who were also decked out in blue for the occasion.
Macron has already promised the Legion of Honor for the victors’ “exceptional services” to the nation, an award given to the legendary team that won France’s first World Cup title in 1998.
The first couple then posed with the team as they sang the Marseillaise and waved scarves for a joyous group photograph, before heading inside for a private meeting.
“Thanks to you all,” Macron told the squad after gathering again outside. “This team is beautiful because you are united.”
Midfielder Paul Pogba, despite his voice nearly failing him, then proved himself a showman off the pitch as well as on by leading the guests in an impromptu celebratory rap, punctuated by “Allez les Bleus.”
“It’s true, we went on the pitch and we said: ‘We’re going to crush them all,’” Pogba said.
Nearly 3,000 guests were received in the Elysee gardens, including about 1,000 youths from local soccer clubs such as Bondy, the gritty Paris suburb whose towering housing blocks produced rising star Kylian Mbappe.
Some of the children even got to touch the famed trophy, which captain Hugo Lloris handed around.
The guests were also treated to the beats of DJ Snake, who has worked with pop stars including Lady Gaga and is part of the Pardon My French collective of French DJs.
Mbappe, who applied the coup de grace in the final to cement his place as a new global superstar at just 19, said he achieved what he had set out to do — win the World Cup.
“We are proud to make the French happy,” he told TV channel TF1.
“Frankly, personally, it’s not real yet,” striker Antoine Griezmann said. “This cup weighs a lot.”
“We are trying to give a good image for France, for French players. I hope that lots of young people will have seen this match and do the same,” he added.
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