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'Don't change!' - French President Macron urges Les Bleus to stay true to selves

Published:Monday | July 16, 2018 | 12:00 AM
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AP
France's players celebrate their FIFA World Cup win with the public, on the roof of a bus while parading down the famed Champs-Elysee avenue in Paris, yesterday.
AP
French President Emmanuel Macron (second left) his wife Brigitte (left), team captain Hugo Lloris (center), head coach Didier Deschamps (second right), defender Lucas Hernandez (right) and striker Olivier Giroud (behind Hernandez) celebrate with the FIFA World Cup trophy at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris yesterday. This was after the parade down the Champs-Elysees, where tens of thousands thronged after the team's 4-2 victory over Croatia on Sunday.
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PARIS (AP):

France's FIFA World Cup champions are sharing their win on the football field with hundreds of youths at the presidential Elysee Palace after getting a hero's welcome home in Paris.

Following a victory lap down the packed Champs-Elysees Avenue in an open-air bus, the squad that defeated Croatia 4-2 in the tournament final on Sunday attended an informal garden party hosted by President Emmanuel Macron yesterday.

Team members sang off-the-cuff songs, and Macron told the crowd: "This team is beautiful because it was united."

"Don't change," Macron said, adding: "Never forget where you come from."

The diverse origins of France's players attracted appreciation during the month-long World Cup. Many of the players grew up in the disadvantaged suburbs of Paris.

Youths from the home club of Kylian Mbappe, the 19-year-old breakout star from the Paris suburb of Bondy, were present at the victory party.