A consolation. A delicious and gentle balm to put on the wound of defeat. This is what a crowd awaits you with fervor. Monday evening, December 19, as the French team returned from Doha after a six-hour flight, the Blues were able to measure how much they remained loved by their supporters, despite this third star missed by a hair, during the final of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Upon landing at Roissy, the captain of the plane carrying the players, their families, as well as the first lady Brigitte Macron, had hung a French flag on the cockpit windshield. But it was at the entrance to Paris, along each boulevard, and especially when the players’ coach arrived at Place de la Concorde, around 9 p.m., that we could see and hear the love of their audience.
Some 15,000 to 20,000 people gradually gathered in front of the Hôtel de Crillon, sometimes arriving as early as 4:30 p.m. Many young people, girls too, most often Parisians, most of whom had barely been born in 1998 , during the first big victory of the French team, bundled up against the damp cold, and screaming their admiration. Some climbed on the parapet of the Obelisk and the metro stations singing The Marseillaise. There are red smoke bombs, people jumping and dancing. It’s like being at the stadium, as if those who haven’t made the trip to Qatar are finally enjoying the atmosphere of this exceptional competition.
Incredible fervor
Are these magnificent losers? Are these champions that we love, despite the insults, because they made you vibrate?
On the balcony of the Crillon, after about twenty minutes, the coach of the Blues Didier Deschamps and the captain Hugo Lloris finally come out to say hello. Soon joined by the whole team. At the foot of the splendid facade of the luxury hotel, Christmas trees shine with a thousand lights. If it weren’t for Kylian Mbappé’s gloomy and closed face, nothing would indicate Sunday’s defeat against Argentina. The star of the France team – “He is our king, our president”, says a supporter, however – is also the first to leave the balcony, as if, he who has such a competitive spirit, had not yet digested having seen this victory escape him.
“Thank you Blues” yet this is what we hear coming from the crowd. Not a whistle. Not a complaint. What enthusiasm and cheers. So, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann, aware of this incredible fervor, applaud among the last this public at least as deserving as its champions.