Fans Show Warm Welcome to France Team Upon Home Arrival

Meanwhile, the France national football team received a warm welcome return home from the Parisian public, a day after they suffered an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Lionel Messi's Argentina in an enthralling 2022 FIFA World Cup final at the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Qatar.

Thousands of fans in central paris cheered the arrival home of a France team that lost one of the greatest World Cup finals. In contrast with 2018 when France won the World Cup in Russia, the team did not receive a parade on the champs-elysees.

But to supporters, the location of the reception hardly mattered as they treated Les Bleus to a warm welcome home in the winter evening cold.

They lit flares, waved flags and sang la marseillaise, as the players and coach Didier Deschamps emerged on the balcony of the hotel De Crillon.

France played its part in one of the most memorable finishes in world cup history, even though the defending champion failed to retain the title.