France players at Euro 2024 share 'immense relief' at defeat for far right in elections

France players away at Euro 2024 have expressed their "immense relief" after exit polls showed a bad result for the far right in Sunday's French elections.

Ahead of the elections, the far-right National Rally led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella was expected to do well, with some forecasters even predicting a victory for the RN.

However, exit polls on Sunday revealed a surprise lead for the left-wing alliance New Popular Front which had moved ahead of Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party, with the National Rally back in third.

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Preparing for their Euro 2024 semi-final against Spain in Munich on Tuesday night, many of France's players were quick to show their relief at the prospective results.

Barcelona defender Jules Kounde wrote on X (formerly Twitter) : "The relief is equal to the worry of recent weeks, it is immense. Congratulations to all the French people who mobilised so that this beautiful country that is France does not find itself governed by the extreme right."

On the same platform , Aurelien Tchouameni simply wrote: "The people's victory." Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate posted five emojis : two of the French flag, two of a roadblock, and one of a hand clapping. And on Instagram, Ousmane Dembele shared a photo of himself smiling in a story, before adding another with a graph showing the expected results.

Speaking ahead of France's opening game at Euro 2024, star player Kylian Mbappe had said in a press conference that he would not want to represent Les Bleus if the far right emerged victorious in the elections.

And the 25-year-old, who signed for Real Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain earlier this summer, echoed the thoughts of team-mate Marcus Thuram in urging the nation to prevent a victory for the National Rally (RN).

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