England vs France: Wayne Rooney and Roy Hodgson pass on sympathies to Paris attack victims as FA announce plans to pay tribute at Wembley

English fans will join the French in singing La Marseillaise ahead of Tuesday's match while the Wmebley arch will be lit up in the colours of the Tricolor

Roy Hodgson (R) and Wayne Rooney express their condolences to the victims of the Paris attacks (Reuters)

England’s national squad joined the one-minute silence across Europe on Monday as respects were paid to the victims of the Paris terror attacks, with captain Wayne Rooney and manager Roy Hodgson expressing their condolences to those who have suffered.

Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn confirmed in a press conference on Monday that measures have been put in place to pay tribute to the 129 victims of the shootings and explosions that hit the French capital on Friday night.

The arch over Wembley Stadium will be lit up in the colours of the French Tricolor, while the words to the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, will be put up on the stadium’s big screen for English fans to unite with their French counterparts in a show of solidarity.

“A lot of good ideas have come from France and ourselves,” said Glenn. “We will sing the La Marseillaise, and we’ll be doing the Tricolor effect with the fans.”

The FA left the decision to play the match up to the French Football Federation, but it emerged on Saturday that the game will go ahead in a bid to stand up against those who committed Friday’s attacks.

“They were very clear that they wanted the game to go ahead for all the reasons you could imagine,” Glenn added.

“I wasn’t surprised, I thought the whole thing is horrible. We learnt about it in Alicante after the [Spain] match. When we considered it, we thought what did England do when it was hit by terror attacks.”

Rooney admitted that he has spoken with past and present team-mates who were playing at the Stade de France when two explosions were heard from the pitch, which resulted from suicide bombers attacking the national stadium.

Rooney’s former Manchester United colleague, Patrice Evra, was visibly shocked as he played the ball the moment the first explosion went off.

England manager Roy Hodgson (L) and FA chief executive Martin Glenn at a press conference (Reuters)

“We’d like to give our condolences and it’s an incredibly sad time, a lot of people losing their lives,” said Rooney. “I have a lot of team-mates who were involved in both teams and I spoke to them after.

“We need to try and be respectful, and then there’s also football match. It’ll be a chance to try and do the country proud and I’m sure all their players will try their best to do France proud and we’ll try and make our country proud.”

England squad members acknowledge a one-minute silence for the victims of the Paris attacks (Reuters)

Hodgson also passed on his deepest sympathies to the victims of the tragedy, and said that whatever the decision from the FA was, his squad would have respected it and carried out their instructions.

“As a manager and a coach I speak also for the players. Whatever the decision would’ve been we would have respected that decision,” Hodgson explained. “I understand that the French authorities had a very clear opinion that they wanted the game to go ahead. We will do our best to make a game of it but we are aware that it is not a normal game, it is special.”