Les Bleus return home as national heros despite World Cup loss
The France football team was expected to greet fans in Paris late Monday after their epic defeat to Argentina in an exhilarating World Cup final.
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"We'll be back," promised star of the show Kylian Mbappé on Twitter.
The 24-year-old striker’s hat-trick on Sunday wasn’t enough to carry Les Bleus to victory, with France losing on penalties after the game finished 3-3.
A statement by the French Football Federation (FFF) said the players would be making an appearance at Place de la Concorde about 8.30pm, fresh off the plane from Qatar.
This was despite earlier comments by FFF president Noël Le Graët who said the team would not be turning out for the public.
"They want to go to thank their supporters, to spend some time on Place de la Concorde," Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera told France Inter radio.
Winning hearts
While Les Blues did not win the World Cup, they did win plenty of hearts as fans from around the world hailed the match as perhaps the best final in the tournament’s history.
“Impossible to forget this performance by Kylian Mbappé,” one person wrote on Twitter, while another said Mbappe was had become his “hero”.
Footage of French President Emmanuel Macron consoling Mbappe after the match were met with derision, with one opposition figure "dismayed" to see Macron clinging "like a spike" to the player.
Thanks to his stunning performance, Mbappe beat Argentine striker Lionel Messi to scoop the World Cup Golden Boot, or best player, award.
He is just the second man to score three times in a World Cup final after England's Geoff Hurst in 1966.
Pride of the nation
The French newspapers were equally full of praise for the national team.
"Proud of our Bleus," read a headline on the front page of Le Parisien newspaper with a picture of the team standing together during the penalty shootout.
Meanwhile L'Equipe sports newspaper wrote: "Invited to the coronation of Lionel Messi, Les Bleus were heroic.”
Coach Didier Deschamps has refused to be drawn on whether he’ll remain at the helm of the French team.
"Even if the result was the opposite, I would not have given you the answer,” he told L’Equipe.
“Obviously I am very sad for my players and my staff. I will have a meeting with (FFF) president at the beginning of the year and you will know."
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