England 2 France 0: Fans unite to justify why a match remembering the Paris victims was right to go ahead

The uneasy feeling outside Wembley was not helped by matters in Hannover, but once the match began a sweeping feeling of defiance took centre stage

England and France players line up together before a minute's silence for the victims of the Paris terror attacks (Getty Images)

Never has a game of football been more important. Never has the football that was actually played mattered less.

England against France, on a cold, windy Tuesday night, shouldn't have mattered at all. But after suicide bombers attacked France's previous fixture — against Germany at Paris's Stade de France — it came to be one of the most important occasions in footballing history.

At Wembley, the security was subtle. There were few searches, and most of the police that were keeping watch did so in a hands-off way.

But it wasn't hidden. The minute's silence wasn't observed by the helicopters that hovered overhead. And outside the ground waited armed police in huge, thick armour.

As we were walking into the stadium, word began to spread that the Hannover match had been cancelled. The stakes were made clear once again: just last week, someone had tried to destroy a football stadium just like this one, and the lives of all of those inside it. We were still under threat.

Fans on Wembley Way walk towards the stadium ahead of England v France (Getty Images)

But once inside something felt safe. Perhaps the sense of occasion was enough to instil security, or maybe it was such a defiant event that it felt like the sheer will of two entirely united sets of fans shouldn't and wouldn't be broken.

For the anthems, a British band played La Marseillaise sounded like it was half-remembered from French lessons, prompted by huge words shown on the big screens in the stadium like a school projector, and even still largely mumbled. It was far from a similar scene on Saturday night, when many of the huge number of French in London gathered in Trafalgar Square and sang pitch-perfect Marseillaises, alongside renditions of other songs like La Vie en Rose and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.

But it suited the often funny fraternity between France and England: our closest neighbour, but a sibling kind of relationship that leaves each afraid to say to the other how much we care, until something truly awful happens.

And then came the game. It began slowly and flatteringly, and a visibly anxious Hugo Lloris made slip ups that looked more than once like they could become goals.

The pace was quickened by two beautifully-composed goals. France, despite their best efforts and increasingly sparky attacking play, couldn't score — despite the hopes of many England supporters as well as the loud and unswayed French fans.

It was a good game. And — far more importantly — it was played.