French president Emmanuel Macron showed joy but also humility and his eye for a great PR opportunity as France became World Champions.

A photo of Macron, in shirt and tie, expressing his emotion as France scored quickly went viral across the social media. However, his consolatory gestures towards Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and the Croatian players after the match were also widely shared.

Macron consoles French players Reuters

Macron headed into the team changing room to celebrate the win, being filmed 'dabbing' with bare-chested defender Benjamin Mendy.

He did not go to the changing-room alone, however, bringing with him a French soldier who had been wounded fighting in Mali.

Demanding for the players' attention with a call of "Les Enfants", or "children", Macron introduced the team to a soldier who lost an arm and a leg fighting terrorists in the African country.

Macron recounted how the soldier has asked him at an event a few days earlier: "When you see the players, tell them they built a dream for a little Frenchman like me."

"That's why I brought him, because I wanted you to realise what you have done," the president said.

_Correction: This story was been updated to spell Macron's first name as Emmanuel, instead of Emmanuelle. _