It started as a celebration of football, a glamour friendly between France and world champions Germany in front of 80,000 fans at Paris's showpiece Stade de France.
Then they heard the explosions, which was now dubbed as the Friday the 13th Massacre in Paris.
"I thought it was just a firework, then my friends told me what was going on in Paris," said a French fan in his 20s as the grim reality of Friday's deadly attacks suddenly hit home.
When three loud explosions were heard from outside the stadium during the first half, football soon drifted from the minds of the spectators when it eventually emerged that three people had died near the arena in the north of the city.
At first, very few, if any, of the crowd appeared to be aware of the significance of what was happening despite the appearance of helicopters low in the sky overhead during the second half and the audible sound of sirens from outside.
The crowd still loudly celebrated goals by Olivier Giroud and substitute Andre-Pierre Gignac late in either half of the match that gave France the win.
However, with tight security building up around the stadium, there was evident confusion after the final whistle.
With exit points being restricted, large numbers of fans poured onto the pitch.
There was no visible sense of panic, but it was after 11:30 P.M. local time (2230 GMT) before the pitch was emptied.
Then they heard the explosions, which was now dubbed as the Friday the 13th Massacre in Paris.
"I thought it was just a firework, then my friends told me what was going on in Paris," said a French fan in his 20s as the grim reality of Friday's deadly attacks suddenly hit home.
When three loud explosions were heard from outside the stadium during the first half, football soon drifted from the minds of the spectators when it eventually emerged that three people had died near the arena in the north of the city.
At first, very few, if any, of the crowd appeared to be aware of the significance of what was happening despite the appearance of helicopters low in the sky overhead during the second half and the audible sound of sirens from outside.
The crowd still loudly celebrated goals by Olivier Giroud and substitute Andre-Pierre Gignac late in either half of the match that gave France the win.
However, with tight security building up around the stadium, there was evident confusion after the final whistle.
With exit points being restricted, large numbers of fans poured onto the pitch.
There was no visible sense of panic, but it was after 11:30 P.M. local time (2230 GMT) before the pitch was emptied.
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