Goals from Olivier Giroud and Andre-Pierre Gignac were enough to hand France a 2-0 win over Germany at the Stade de France this evening, where the game was rocked by a number of nearby explosions.
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Both sides began the contest tentatively, but it was Germany who were almost in as France had to call on the expert defending of Patrice Evra, who stifled some link-up play between Sami Khedira and Matthias Ginter.
Anthony Martial appeared bright early on and his cross into the box was soon wasted by Giroud, after the Arsenal frontman fumbled his lines despite being in a good position to score.
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Didier Deschamps thought that his side had earned a lead not too long after that chance as Paul Pogba and Giroud played in Antoine Griezmann, who was then denied by a well-placed Manuel Neuer.
It appeared as though the sides would go into the break level, but for Giroud who broke free in injury time in order to finish off a memorable move started by Martial.
Proceedings took a turn for the worse after half time, when several explosions were heard close to the ground, leading to French prime minister Francois Hollande being evacuated from the stadium.
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Elsewhere in the city, Paris fell prey to several traumatic events, as at least one shooting took place at a restaurant and hostages were taken at a concert venue.
The game at the Stade de France continued despite the situation, however, and it was Germany who almost found an equaliser when Thomas Muller beat Hugo Lloris, before being denied unluckily by the post.
The miss was to prove costly given that Gignac stole in four minutes from time to head finely beyond Neuer and leave the final score at 2-0.
Christopher Dodd
