World Cup 2018: France players set off fire alarms at team hotel after Moscow nightclub visit

A fire engine was called to the team's training base in Istra as a precaution after players started a water fight with fire extinguishers

France players set off the fire alarms at their team hotel at the end of a sanctioned night out to celebrate their World Cup victory over Argentina last month, it has emerged.

According to a report by BeIN Sports, French national team staff allowed the players to go to a Moscow nightclub following their 4-3 win in the round of 16, but their actions on returning to the team hotel in the early hours of the morning led to a fire engine being sent to the team’s training base in Istra as a precaution.

The players were taken to the nightclub in Moscow in buses with tinted windows to ensure discretion, but after coming back at 3am members of the squad started a water fight with fire extinguishers that set off the alarms in the hotel and forced the team staff – including manager Didier Deschamps – to congregate in the hall.

Once the cause of the alarm was identified and it was determined that there was no fire risk the fire engine left the French team base, though Deschamps was reportedly less than impressed by being woken in the middle of the night by his players’ antics.

The incident clearly had no lasting effect on squad harmony or morale, however, as France convincingly beat Uruguay 2-0 in the World Cup quarter-finals on Friday to set up a semi-final clash with Belgium in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday.

The winner will face England or Croatia in Sunday’s final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.