Allez les bleus! After early hopefuls Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Spain bowed out earlier than expected in the tournament, there remained just one of the original favourites: La France.
In Moscow on Sunday night’s final a combative Croatian side, blessed with eventual golden ball winner Luka Modric in midfield, were unable to continue their fairytale as two favourable refereeing decisions set France up for a comfortable victory against the Balkan nation in an engrossing game.
Following France’s 4-2 win, its second World Cup victory in two decades, the country’s press all carried photos of captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris – who made a dreadful error in the closing stages of the game – holding the trophy aloft.
‘Le jour de gloire est arrivé’, the day of glory has arrived, chimed Le Figaro as the French media reacted to the comprehensive victory over underdogs Croatia.
Le Journal du Dimanche carried a similar photo on its back page that captured the jubilance of the diverse Black, Blanc, Beur French team.
The headline Dans les etoilés played on the fact that the proud nation were now two-times world champions and had earned the right to place multiple stars above the French cockerel on their jerseys.
Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud, who did not score a goal during the tournament, is seen to have managed to get his hands on the trophy almost as soon as the celebrations had began.
The front page, meanwhile, depicted French men and women toasting their success in front of the Arc de Triomphe, beneath a tricolour flag and a headline proclaiming “France wins” the day after Bastille Day.
Encore! demanded the left-leaning Libération, as pundits mused on the potential of this young French side; which never quite reached its full potential throughout the tournament, yet still won.
La Montagne, the French regional paper, paid tribute to Les Tsars in yet another play on the significance of the country’s second World Cup win, in the land of Nicholas and Alexander.
Elsewhere, Le Parisien said the French team had their heads in the stars after winning their second World Cup.
Kylian Mpabbé, the young player of the tournament and the first teenager to score in a final since Pelé in 1958, is having a cheeky sideways look at the trophy in this one. On his goal he said: “It was a superb goal, especially since it was a goal that gave us wings.”
Eternal happiness, gushed sports daily L’Équipe, as it paid tribute to les Bleus of Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann who it said were writing their own legend in the tradition of the 1998 World Cup-winning heroes: that of a team and a country in full communion.
‘We love you!’ wrote La Depeche, which featured a photo taken shortly after the French team first lifted the 5kg, 18-carat trophy.
Benjamin Pavard, who scored one of the goals of the tournament, is leading the celebrations.
Le Monde, the most renowned French daily newspaper, hinted at its front pages.
Whether it would choose a widely shared photo of French president Emmanuel Macron’s boisterous celebration with the Croatian president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, and the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, looking on from their seats to grace its front or back page remained to be seen.