France defender Bacary Sagna says it was not easy to play a friendly against England when images of last week's terror attacks were still fresh in the players' minds.
England won 2-0 at Wembley thanks to goals from Dele Alli and Wayne Rooney but Tuesday's game will be remembered for a moving tribute to the 129 people who died in Paris last Friday.
English supporters in the 71,223-crowd joined visiting fans in singing the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise," before a minute's silence was impeccably observed ahead of kickoff.
The French media hailed the show of solidarity and defiance as a triumph. On its front page on Wednesday, L'Equipe used a rare headline in English -- "Thank You" -- to express gratitude to the host country.
Merci aux Anglais pour ce mémorable hommage. Merci beaucoup. pic.twitter.com/iWWSaJtz99
- L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) November 18, 2015
"Yes and no," Sagna told L'Equipe, when asked if the visitors had been mentally ready to play. "Yes, because we did our utmost to remain concentrated. No, because we lacked a lot of ingredients this evening.
"It's never easy after everything that happened. A lot of people kept all these images from Friday in their head. But we wanted to fight in the name of the French people."
The Manchester City right-back said he had tears in his eyes during the pregame tributes and that it was the toughest preparation for a game he had ever had.
"It was much more than a game of football," he said. "We obviously had a bit of trouble getting to sleep, a bit of trouble concentrating too.
"Beyond the game of football that we hoped to win, there was a lot more and you could feel that on the pitch."
France midfielder Blaise Matuidi, who grew up in Paris, was hugely emotional when he spoke after the game.
The Paris Saint-Germain player, 28, admitted that it was hard not to be worried about the future and said that he never again wanted to experience anything like the three days that preceded the match.
"We really thank England for their homage, which I think will remain unique," Matuidi told reporters. "It was really touching for us.
"We showed the example to follow. We should all be united, regardless of the country, regardless of nationality. We're human beings, regardless of religion. We showed that we were as one."