After England and France stood together at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night, Three Lions captain Wayne Rooney hopes people around the world will learn from the unity shown.
Players, staff and fans inside the stadium paid their respects in impeccable style to the people affected by the horrifying events in Paris on Friday night.
Roy Hodgson's men intermingled with Didier Deschamps' team around the centre circle for the minute's silence and the captain says it showed the positive effects football can have.
England 2-0 France
International Match
Tuesday 17 November 2015
Wembley Stadium connected by EE
"It was tough and a lot different to what any of us had experienced before," Rooney told TheFA.com after the game.
"We knew it was going to be an emotional time, but both sets of players, both sets of staff, handled it as well as we could do.
"The fans were great and we showed a positive sign to the world that things like this can bring a lot of people together throughout the world and we've shown that. Hopefully people will follow from that."
As soon as the game started, though, the players focused on the game and the visitors had two good chances through Yohan Cabaye and Anthony Martial.
Roy Hodgson's men also created chances, and it was two goals either side of the break that gave England victory.
England's goalscorers against France speak to FATV
Rooney continued: "We obviously wanted to win the game - we paid our respects before and after the game - but in terms of the 90 minutes we wanted to win and we've done that.
"It was a good performance, we stuck to our game plan and hit them very quickly on the break and created some good chances.
"I think over the course of the 90 minutes and the chances created we deserved to win."
Dele Alli opened the scoring with a wonderful soaring drive that sailed into the corner of the net from 20 yards, and the captain believes there is much more to come from the Tottenham Hotspur teenager.
Rooney added a second with a volley just after the break, as he converted Raheem Sterling's for his 51st England goal.
And the victory brought to a close a year in which England lost just once.
England and France stood together for a moment of reflection before Tuesday's game
"[Dele's] a fantastic player. He's come into Tottenham and played really well and he took his chance tonight brilliantly.
"It was a fantastic goal but again he's a young player, not many games for England and we can't expect too much from him at this stage. But he is certainly a bright player for the future."
The Manchester United forward talked through his goal: "It was a good break from us, Raheem got goal side and it was a fantastic ball by him.
"Harry [Kane] has taken their centre-half in and I managed to sneak round the back post.
Special night tonight. Through football we showed togetherness and unity. Both teams & sets of fans were brilliant👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/NtL9ojGkCJ
— Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) November 17, 2015
"It was a great ball in and I caught it nicely and its gone in, so I'm pleased with that."
He added: "We're disappointed with the defeat against Spain, there were a few positive moments we took form that in terms of opportunities we could have created from the game.
"But thankfully we've got the win tonight and we end 2015 with a good result."
