France coach Didier Deschamps said his players will share a lifelong bond after their World Cup triumph here on Sunday.

Les Bleus won football's premier international trophy for a second time by beating Croatia 4-2 in front of 78,000 fans at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

"These players will be together forever because of this," said Deschamps, who became the third person to win the World Cup as both a player and manager, joining Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer.

"It's not going to change them but they will also know that that there is nothing above winning a World Cup. It's the pinnacle in football."

Deschamps said Russia 2018 was unique because smaller teams were more willing than ever before to push themselves to their physical limits.

"I have never seen a World Cup like this," said the 49-year-old, who was captain of the France team that beat Brazil in the 1998 final.

"I don't think it was an esthetically beautiful World Cup. It was tough and you only have to look at the data to see that some of he smaller teams run more and had better statistics than some other teams that were better on paper.

"As the tournament goes on you need to get stronger and we managed to do that. There was uncertainty regarding our young players but they showed what they are capable of and I'm sure that in three or four years they will be even stronger."

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