Akin Ayomide
France captain Kylian Mbappe said the national football team wished to remember all the victims of the 2015 Paris terror attacks as they prepare to play on the 10th anniversary of the atrocity.
On Friday, November 13, 2015, a series of attacks in Paris and around the Stade de France during a friendly match between Les Bleus and Germany left a total of 130 people dead.
“Everyone knows how special tomorrow is,” Mbappe said on the eve of France’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.
“Not in a good way. So we wanted to remember all those who have lost loved ones, who have been affected, hurt, whether mentally or physically.
“We will try tomorrow to pay tribute to all these people, whether during the day, during the match, by trying to put smiles on the faces of those who come to the stadium, even though we know it’s not a joyful day.”
Most of those who were killed lost their lives at the Bataclan concert hall in the city, where the US band Eagles of Death Metal was playing.
But one person died near the Stade de France in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, where multiple explosions took place as suicide bombers attempted to enter the ground.
The stadium was packed with France’s then-president, Francois Hollande, among the close to 80,000 spectators in attendance for the game against Germany, the match was played to a conclusion despite the unfolding events, with France winning 2-0.
“It would have been better if we could have avoided playing on November 13,” coach Didier Deschamps, who was on the touchline 10 years ago, admitted as he spoke to reporters last week to announce his squad.
A minute’s silence will be held ahead of kick-off to remember the victims of the attacks, and Deschamps added: “There is an obligation to remember what happened, but there is a football match to be played too.”
France, winners of the World Cup in 2018 and runners-up in Qatar in 2022, will qualify for next year’s tournament with a game to spare if they beat Ukraine.