Watch! France return home to a jubilant welcome despite FIFA World Cup final ending in defeat

The France national football team received a warm welcome from the Parisian public as they returned home on Monday - a day after they suffered an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Lionel Messi's Argentina in an enthralling FIFA World Cup final in Qatar.

Fans filled the Place de la Concorde in central Paris to welcome the team who were driven straight to the square from the airport after touching down from Qatar.

Argentina defeated previous holders France 4-2 in the shoot-out, after the two teams had played out a 3-3 draw over 120 minutes.

France, whose own star forward Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick in the final and won the Golden Boot Award, missed the opportunity to become the first country since Brazil in 1958 and 1962 to retain the World Cup. They also failed to secure a third triumph over their own, having won the 1998 and 2018 tournaments.

Also read: FIFA World Cup final: France trio Coman, Tchouameni & Kolo Muani racially abused after penalty misses