With an impressive security shield – 4,000 police and 1,600 private agents – the Nations League match between the teams of France and Israel was finally played on Thursday night in Paris, without any news of serious incidents inside or outside the stadium. stadium. Of course, there were some fights in the stands in the first half.
Given the political and diplomatic controversy that preceded the sporting event, a truly cursed match given the context in which it was played, what really mattered the least was the result. The duel ended in a 0-0 draw, a result that did justice to a match of very low football quality, rough, lackluster, which at times did not seem up to the standard of an international competition. Only the Israeli goalkeeper, Peretz, was saved, who made very brilliant interventions.
The first half had already ended goalless, with several chances for both teams, especially for the blues, that did not materialize. Clumsiness and errors abounded in both opponents. After the break the same trend continued, with France frustrated by their inability to score. The game and the outcome seemed to confirm the joke in the last issue of the satirical weekly Le Canard enchainé in which President Emmanuel Macron, in the role of coach, advised his men, to avoid incidents, to avoid scoring goals.
Impressive police armor for a Stade de France with the lowest attendance in its history
The stands were half empty. Carrying backpacks and banners was prohibited. With only 15,000 spectators for a capacity of 80,000, the Stade de France recorded the lowest attendance since it was inaugurated in 1998. The fear of some and the bad conscience of others scared away the fans. The Israeli Government had advised against going to the countryside. Under no circumstances was a repetition of the serious anti-Semitic attacks of last week, in Amsterdam, after Ajax-Macabbi, wanted.
To compensate for the low presence of fans and as a political message, the box was filled with authorities. The current President of the Republic and his predecessors François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy were seated, as well as the Prime Minister, Michel Barnier; another former occupant of the position, Manuel Valls, as well as local and regional leaders.
“We will not give up anything to anti-Semitism and intimidation,” Macron told the BFMTV network, hours before the meeting, while walking through the center of Paris with his bodyguards, a fairly rare scene. The French president called his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, and Prime Minister, Beniamin Netanyahu, by phone to explain the security arrangement and to reiterate France’s determination to combat anti-Semitism wherever it manifests itself.
Macron and his predecessors Hollande and Sarkozy go to the countryside as a political signal
Less than two kilometers from the Stade de France, in front of the Saint-Denis Town Hall, there was a rally called by France Insoumise (LFI, radical left), which was attended by a thousand people to protest the match and denounce the “ genocide” that, according to the organizers, the Palestinians suffer at the hands of Israel. Éric Coquerel, president of the Finance Commission of the National Assembly, spoke to the crowd, who judged the large presence of politicians “shameful.” According to him, there is a double standard because no leader would have gone to the field if the visiting team had been Russia.
The match has been a bad deal for the French Football Federation (FFF), whose contract stipulates a rent of more than 2.5 million euros for each match played at the Stade de France. To cover that amount, there needs to be at least 60,000 spectators. France qualifies for the quarterfinals, although with a very disappointing performance.
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