2022 World Cup: Place de la Concorde, the crowd celebrates the Blues, its magnificent losers

2022 World Cup: Place de la Concorde, the crowd celebrates the Blues, its magnificent losers

Thousands of people gathered Monday evening in front of the Hôtel de Crillon, in Paris, to greet the players, who have just returned from Qatar.

Devant l’hôtel de Crillon, sur la place de la Concorde, à Paris, le 19 décembre 2022.
Devant l’hôtel de Crillon, sur la place de la Concorde, à Paris, le 19 décembre 2022. Devant l’hôtel de Crillon, sur la place de la Concorde, à Paris, le 19 décembre 2022.

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.

Read the story: Article reserved for our subscribers World Cup 2022: the almost perfect story of a French team born in pain but inhabited by its destiny

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 public.

SARAH MEYSSONNIER / REUTERS 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 , in the first big victory of the France team, bundled up against the damp cold, and howling 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.
Read also: The incredible World Cup final experienced with those for whom it was “unthinkable to watch the game at home”

Devant l’hôtel de Crillon, sur la place de la Concorde, à Paris, le 19 décembre 2022.

GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

” Thank you “

Is that what magnificent losers are? Is this the champions we love, despite the snubs, 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 “, however affirms a supporter – is besides 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.

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“Thank you the Blues”,

it is nevertheless what we hear the crowd rising. 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.

The French team on the balcony of the Hôtel de Crillon, place de la Concorde, in Paris, on December 19, 2022.

Raphaëlle Bacqué

Devant l’hôtel de Crillon, sur la place de la Concorde, à Paris, le 19 décembre 2022.

Devant l’hôtel de Crillon, sur la place de la Concorde, à Paris, le 19 décembre 2022.

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    L’équipe de France sur le balcon de l’hôtel de Crillon, place de la Concorde, à Paris, le 19 décembre 2022.hotel Deals Click the button below to get the best discounts on hotels in Amsterdam.

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