Of course, there is football and the sporting challenge of the Blues to definitively punch their ticket for the World Cup in Qatar. Of course, there is the thunderous start to the match by Kylian Mbappé and his ultra-fast hat-trick in thirty-two minutes which is in charge of sending France to Qatar. But in the stands of the Parc des Princes, nobody can forget the other event of the meeting between France and Kazakhstan (8-0): its date. November 13. Just six years after the dramatic attacks which had bloodied the Stade de France, the center of Paris and the Bataclan.
So the stands of the Parc des Princes celebrated this sad anniversary with dignity and emotion. Banners in white letters on a black background were deployed, in particular by the most famous group of French supporters, the Irrésistibles Français. ” Fluctuat NEC mergitur ” (it floats but does not sink), the motto of the city of Paris which had flourished on social networks following the drama to send a message of resilience. And another, in tribute to the number of victims: “To our 131 stars of November 13”.
At the time of the hymns, the French supporters embarked on a moving Marseillaise just before a completely respected minute of silence.
But the strongest moment came in the 13th minute, obviously echoing November 13. In all the stands, the spectators turned on the lights of their mobile phones like placing a candle in a church in memory of a deceased person. And, in the process, the whole stadium then began to sing a huge Marseillaise a cappella. At that moment, the France team had only scored the first two of their eight goals to zero, but the main thing was then absolutely not sport.
It was finally the French striker Antoine Griezmann, whose sister Maud experienced the horror of the Bataclan attack from the inside, who paid a last personal tribute to the victims of November 13 by revealing, to the after a penalty converted in the 84th minute, the inscription “13/11/2015” surmounted by a heart under his jersey.
