Paris terrorist attack: 'No, something’s wrong … Hollande is leaving' - what it was like to be in the Stade de France the moment the explosions started

The first bomb we heard was in the 17th minute of the game. It was an unusual sound that I’d not heard before. In fact, we didn’t just hear it, we felt it – there was a vibration in our seats. We knew it was not a firecracker, but didn’t know what it could be.

I thought that perhaps for security reasons the police might have blown up something that had been left outside the stadium. Then three minutes later there was a second explosion and this time we knew there was something strange happening. Some people in the crowd cheered as if it was a firework, but other people said: “No, that’s not normal.”

The press box is just above where François Hollande, the French president, was sitting in the West Stand. A friend of mine from iTELE was sitting next to me and he stood up and looked down and saw Hollande leaving his seat. He said: “There’s something wrong, as Hollande is leaving the stadium.”

I stayed in my position but we didn’t know what was going on. At half-time we were talking among ourselves wondering what had happened and then the third explosion happened. Yet it was still more a very odd atmosphere – what is going on? – rather than fear.

At the beginning of the second half suddenly someone said in the press box there had been a terrorist attack and shootings in Paris so we stopped watching the match and got on our computers and on Twitter to see what was going on. It was a strange thing to have to watch the game and write about it as the second half went on. Some of the press tried to go outside to see what was happening but they weren’t allowed.

Most of the fans in the ground still didn’t know what was happening and when France scored their second goal in the last 10 minutes, everybody celebrated like in a normal game. They hadn’t realised. When I saw André-Pierre Gignac with his arms raised after his goal, I had a glimpse in my mind of Michel Platini at the Heysel Stadium disaster in Brussels in 1985, but I understand it is not the same thing – Gignac didn’t know and I am sure no players knew what was happening. He had the right to be happy. He didn’t know.

Five minutes from the end there was an announcement over the PA system that because of an incident outside the stadium the spectators would have to leave by three exit gates – West, South and North, but not by the East. On the final whistle there was a similar announcement, saying: “Please stay calm, because of an incident you will have to leave from three gates instead of four. The Metro is still running.”

The problem was that nobody in that stadium knows which gate is which – you enter by A, B, C, D and so on. So nobody knows which is East and West. So people who tried to go out by the East Stand were told by the police to get back inside and suddenly there were people running on to the pitch. Maybe it was five or 10 people panicking at first but in a large crowd you only need a small number and then you have 1,000 people panicking. It was the only moment of fear and panic in the stadium when those people came back on to the pitch.

They were on the pitch for about 45 minutes waiting to leave. Everything was very quiet – people were on their phones, and suddenly everybody knew what was happening.

As for the press, five minutes after the game we knew no players would come to the mixed zone and that the France coach, Didier Deschamps, would not talk. Only Noël Le Graët, the president of the French Football Federation, said a few words and they told us the next day’s press conference at Clairefontaine was cancelled. I can imagine it was a strange atmosphere in the dressing room and it’s unbelievable for Antoine Griezmann that his sister was at the Bataclan.

At first L’Équipe asked me to write a very short piece about the game and a longer piece about the atmosphere but in the end they said they would deal with the atmosphere from the office and I had to write about the game. But it was impossible to write about the game.

So I tried to mention the atmosphere and the strange feeling and the fact there was some football on Friday night in the Stade de France but it didn’t really mean anything and this is not the time to think about the next Euros.

My son was at the game with three friends and they didn’t want to take the Metro back to Paris so I took them in the car with me and they all slept in my apartment. It was very quiet on the roads and I then drove back to the stadium because some other colleagues didn’t want to take the Metro but all the roads were closed in a 1km radius of the ground.

Looking to the game against England, I don’t know whether it should be played on Tuesday or not. I don’t know what to think – maybe the best way to react is to go on and play.

The terrorists attacked people who love football, who love music, who love to spend time together and have a few drinks. Perhaps the best way to react is to play football, to go to concerts and to have some drinks.

As for the Euros next summer, the thing is how can we guarantee the safety of people and players in France in June? I think it’s impossible. We don’t know what is the best thing to do – but there are many more questions than answers today.

I’ve been at games before where I was afraid of the atmosphere and saw a lot of policemen but this is the first time there’s been a terrorist attack at a national team match.

The bombs were 50 metres from the East Stand. I can’t stop asking myself how at the stadium three terrorists have been killed and there was only one other casualty.