France-Germany on 13 November will forever be remembered as the friendly match of terror. Yesterday at the Stade de France the spotlights were on two of the national teams who in the summer will be among the favorites for the title of European champion, outside the sports facility, in the dark, the explosions, the shots, the death. Last night’s match for the German footballers ended at 9.52 this morning, when they landed in Frankfurt on Lufthansa flight LH 343. The plane had arrived specifically from Germany to Charles de Gaulle airport (where it was parked far from the terminal) to bring the national team back home, safe from attacks. The German journalists following the expedition also boarded the plane, guarded by the French police, armed with machine guns. Initially the world champion national team was supposed to leave Paris for Hanover only on Sunday morning (at 12), to prepare for Tuesday’s friendly match with the Netherlands. Now the match against the Oranje could be cancelled: “In this regard we will not make hasty decisions – explained Reinhard Rauball, interim president of the DFB –. We will talk to the players and understand how they metabolize the incident. Personally I would like not to cancel the friendly match so as not to let the attackers win.”
Stade de France, crowd fleeing towards the pitch
the night — The French players remained until late at night with their colleagues from Germany inside the Stade de France: when they learned that the German delegation would spend the night inside the stadium, the “bleus” and the staff of French national team have decided to stay with them as a sign of solidarity. The transalpines returned by bus to the center of Clairefontaine only at 4 in the morning. It was initially thought that at 2.15am the Germany players had left the stadium in mini-coaches. In reality the news, given by the DFB for security reasons, turned out to be false. Bierhoff, current team manager of the national team, said: “We were assured that all possible safety measures had been adopted in the stadium. There was great insecurity, great fear, and there was a strange mood in the locker room. The players were in shock , many took out their cell phones to get information or to call relatives and friends.” Already yesterday morning the German national team had had to evacuate the hotel following a bomb threat. After checks by the bomb squad, who did not find any devices, the players were able to return to their rooms. It was only the beginning of the nightmare. Now the Germans have landed in Frankfurt and will soon return home, where they will hug their loved ones. How to do it after a bad story.
France-Germany in chaos: a violent explosion is heard
friendly confirmed — The possibility of postponing the England-France friendly, scheduled for Tuesday 17 November at Wembley, had been taken into consideration. The French Football Federation instead confirmed the match.
mourning — Furthermore, all UEFA football matches in the next few days will have a minute’s silence for the Paris attacks and the teams will take to the pitch with mourning on their arms. While the Marseillaise will be played before all the Italian Serie B matches scheduled for the weekend, the teams will enter the field with the French flag open during the deployment.