Mes Amis, it was a long night. World champions, a second star on the jersey and, naturellement, the celebrations were long and loud and joyful. I found myself in the changing room with the players after the game and the air was thick with laughter and song and then a certain dizziness, too, as the result began to sink in. I embraced my old friend Didier Deschamps, still soaked to the skin from the rain-drenched trophy ceremony. He was in a state of euphoria – he had done it!
By leading Les Bleus to a second triumph, 20 years after being our captain when we won the World Cup in France, Didier became only the third man to have won the competition as both player and manager. He’s in rare company, alongside Mário Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer, but when he was reminded of the fact he just shrugged, smiled and said those two were far better players than he ever was. Typical Didier, that. Deflecting the praise, trying not to take himself too seriously. Humble.
The players threw Didier into the air after the game and later stormed his press conference, throwing water over everybody and chanting their manager’s name. But it wasn’t just water they poured over him, it was praise, too, and you could see they knew how much they owed him. It was touching.
For these young players, being world champions will take a bit of time to really sink in. Little by little they will realise what they have achieved and the significance of it all. They got a glimpse of what it means to people on Monday when they paraded along the Champs Élysées in front of hundreds of thousands of partying supporters. They are world champions for life
When we won in 1998 it gave us tremendous belief and we became a much better team afterwards – think back to how we dominated England a year later at Wembley with a couple of goals from Nicolas Anelka. Remember Euro 2000, when we played much more attacking football than two years earlier. No wonder Didier will stay on as France manager – he can sense the potential he has at hand. Many of these players will be even better in two or four years’ time. Didier left talent such as Alexandre Lacazette, Kingsley Coman and Anthony Martial at home but they are still young and we have plenty of other players coming through – Clément Lenglet just joined Barcelona from Sevilla and is a fine defender. The future is really bright for France.