Hodgson satisfied with Wembley tribute

It was a friendly that began in the expected becalmed fashion, although France, whose players spent much of Friday night inside Stade de France with their Germany counterparts after their 2-0 friendly victory was targeted by three suicide bombers, made the more assured start in London with Yohan Cabaye sending a speculative effort over the crossbar.

Prior to the anthems, and a solemnly observed minute’s silence, figures including Deschamps, Hodgson, Prince William, French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet and his English counterpart Greg Dyke laid floral tributes beside the pitch.

Not one of the French squad members rejected the opportunity to feature at Wembley – not even Lassana Diarra, whose cousin Asta Diakite was killed, or Antoine Griezmann, whose sister survived the shooting at the Bataclan.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli has reacted on social media site Twitter after netting his first England goal against France on Tuesday evening.

The match was held after questions about safety and both Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William attended the friendly.

It was only after the crowd had joined the Les Fauristes chorus in singing “La Marsellaise”, France’s national anthem, and observing a minute of silence, that the match got under way taking on a clearly festive tone.

“We see it as a show of defiance”, said Hodgson moments before the match.

England manager Roy Hodgson said the warm welcome for the French team, who have generally had the upper hand over England in recent years, was created to show how appalled they were with the events in Paris.

Rooney, playing in what is becoming a more usual deep-lying role, doubled England’s lead in the 48th minute after Alli, who started the move, found Raheem Sterling who crossed for Rooney to volley home his 51st global goal.

Wembley’s iconic arch was lit up in the blue, white and red of the French flag, while the French motto “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite” was projected on the front of the national stadium.

England won the match 2-nil thanks to goals from Wayne Rooney and Dele Alli. Tonight we showed what real life is by coming together despite differences in nationality and religion.

Libération were a little more wry, writing: “Scoop: The English love us”.

Alli, however, said: “I am not going to look too far forward – I’ve still got a lot to learn. There will be better days than this ahead, for all of us”. “We need to stand tall together in these tough times”. “This was a hard night but all of us, and not just the players involved, will have this game in our minds for a long time to come”.

“La Marseillaise, that was a very hard moment because we all thought of the victims, their families, of all the horrors that took place on Friday”.