Thierry Henry praised France's "beautiful journey" at the Paris Olympics despite defeat to Spain in their gold medal match on Friday.
Henry led France to their first football medal at the Games since their triumph at the 1984 edition in Los Angeles, but will take home silver this time around.
Maghnes Akliouche and Jean-Philippe Mateta's late strikes saw Les Bleus come from 3-1 down in the final 10 minutes to send the encounter to extra-time.
However, Sergio Camello's brace broke French hearts at the Parc des Princes, with Spain continuing to assert their dominance on the international stage.
Despite the defeat, Henry lauded his players' efforts during the tournament, saying that he will remember their journey as something that united the country.
"It was magical. I told the guys that I was proud of them and that we've got a medal at the end. Sure this is not how we wanted to be but the story is amazing," said Henry.
"I think everybody enjoyed. It didn't end well but there was emotion, a medal and a beautiful journey. We are a beautiful country when we are together.
"It's beautiful to see people with jerseys, people with flags at the Olympics.
"It's difficult to celebrate this medal but we have to. There was a story, an amazing human journey."
Alexandre Lacazette, who was one of Les Bleus' three overage players at the Games, echoed the comments made by his head coach.
The 33-year-old has not played for France since 2017, but thanked Henry for giving him the opportunity to represent his country once again.
"To Henry, thank you for trusting me and make me wear the blue (French) jersey again," Lacazette said.
"I will remember the journey, the fact that I could wear the blue jersey again, the atmospheres that we had. I think all the French are proud of us after all. Even if we are disappointed.
"I don't know if this match was the most important but it's one of the most beautiful matches in terms of emotions."
Puerto Rico’s Camacho-Quinn take 100m hurdles bronze in Paris; USA’s Russell takes gold ahead of France’s Samba-Mayela
Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn is now a two-time Olympic medallist after securing bronze in the final of the Women’s 100m hurdles at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
The three medallists in Saturday’s final at the Stade de France were separated by just three hundredths of a second.
Camacho-Quinn, who won gold in Tokyo three years ago, took bronze this time around in 12.36, just behind France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela (12.34) who took silver.
American Masai Russell, whose only other win this season came in the final at the US Trials, held her nerve to take gold in 12.33.
Bahamian World Indoor 60m hurdles champion and world record holder Devynne Charlton ran 12.56 in sixth while Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent failed to finish.
Ten Hag 'hurt' by 'tough' Community Shield defeat
Erik ten Hag says Manchester United "have to hurt" after suffering a penalty shootout defeat to Manchester City in the Community Shield on Saturday.
Alejandro Garnacho had given the Red Devils the lead in the 82nd minute before Bernardo Silva's equaliser seven minutes later forced penalties after a 1-1 draw.
Both sides had a spot-kick saved to force sudden death before Jonny Evans' missed penalty set up Manuel Akanji to secure the trophy for Pep Guardiola's side with a 7-6 victory in the shootout.
United also had a Bruno Fernandes goal ruled out for offside, while Marcus Rashford hit the post, and though Ten Hag was largely pleased with the performance from his side, he admitted that made it tougher to accept the result.
"Tough result to take," Ten Hag told ITV. "When the performance is right, when you lose, everyone feels this.
"It hurts in your stomach. You have to feel pain and we have to hurt. We have to take this belief into the league.
"We managed to be on an equal level with Man City and got Rashford high on the pitch and good defending. We created chances, we got pressure on the ball and in possession we had some very good chances from this, so there are many positives we can take.
"We did very good to produce the second goal in the FA Cup final before half-time and weren't able to do that here."
Rashford had the most chances for United but failed to hit the target with any of his three shots as he generated an expected goals of 0.72.
After a prolific first season under Ten Hag, the winger struggled for form last year, netting just eight goals in all competitions.
Asked if he thought Rashford was low on confidence after failing to test Ederson, Ten Hag brushed concerns aside, instead looking at the positives in his performance.
"No, I think he was several times in very good positions, I am very pleased he is getting in those positions,” he said in his press conference.
"Keep going and keep getting in those positions, and he will score goals."
Russell beats French favourite Samba-Mayela to 100m hurdles gold
Cyrena Samba-Mayela delivered France's first track and field medal at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, but she had to settle for silver after losing narrowly to Masai Russell.
Team USA star Russell, who is competing at her first edition of the Games, came flying up on the inside to beat Samba-Mayela by one-hundredth of a second at the Stade de France.
Samba-Mayela collapsed in tears on the track after claiming France's first athletics medal on the penultimate night of their home games, with president Emmanuel Macron watching on.
Russell's victory came on the back of Grant Holloway's triumph in the men's 110m hurdles on Thursday, and represents Team USA's 12th track and field gold at these Games.
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico took bronze, finishing just three-hundredths of a second behind Russell in a fiercely contested race, while the Netherlands' Nadine Visser missed out on a medal in fourth.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
