AN EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE was paid to the victims of the recent terror attacks in Manchester and London ahead of this evening’s friendly between France and England in Paris.
With French president Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May in attendance at the Stade de France, the hosts offered their solidarity to their visitors with a touching tribute.
As the teams emerged from the tunnel, the band and choir of the French Republican Guard played ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’, a song which has become an anthem for Manchester after the city was hit by a suicide bombing last month.
French supporters also joined in with the singing of the English national anthem as the word were displayed on the big screens around the ground, a gesture returned after Wembley did the same following the Paris terror attacks in November 2015.
Security was very tight around France’s national stadium, as it has been for all events since a wave of terror attacks began to hit the country over the last couple of years.
The game was the first meeting of the sides since 2015, when England won 2-0 in a friendly on that emotionally charged night at Wembley.
That match was played despite France being in a state of shock in the wake of the terror attacks that struck Paris just four days earlier.
A total of 130 people were killed on 13 November 2015, when the Stade de France itself was one of the targets, being attacked by suicide bombers during a friendly match against Germany.
On that occasion, the London crowd joined in with the singing of the French anthem, ‘La Marseillaise’, which was also played before Premier League games the following weekend.
With reporting from AFP
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