Playing for your country is the best thing that can happen to a player. It’s an honour, you’re an ambassador for your country and winning the World Cup at home was the cherry on the cake.

I was an Arsenal player but playing for your country is something amazing. It is beyond sport when you win the World Cup at home in front of your family. 

My brother Olivier had died on the pitch 10 years before — I was on a mission, and after the World Cup I felt so proud. 

Scoring in the final was like giving birth. I’m not a woman but I am a father of three kids and I felt the same thing each time my children were born.

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‘Playing for your country is the best thing that can happen to a player. It’s an honour’

‘I was an Arsenal player but playing for your country is something amazing. It is beyond sport’