Didier Deschamps commended his players after they responded to his call for desire and aggression in a 1-0 friendly win over Portugal in Lisbon.
Substitute Mathieu Valbuena's late free-kick clinched the win for France, who dominated the game and played some attractive attacking football, despite clear cut chances being few and far between.
Deschamps was pleased to end a run of defeats in their previous two outings, and said: "We showed a lot of aggression, we had some good moves, and we did not concede a goal.
"Beyond the result against a good Portugal team, we had the ingredients we needed. We had the better chances and could have scored before we did.
"We had a stranglehold on the second half. I saw beautiful things."
Goal-scorer Valbuena showed no sign of resentment at having to play from the bench, and looked forward to the friendly against Serbia in Bordeaux on Monday.
He said: "It is a group, a family. Those who are on the bench must be decisive when they get a chance.
"We did a good job; the mood has returned.
"We showed that we were together. We had chances, that's encouraging. It will continue against Serbia."
Deschamps also lamented what looks to be a serious injury to Lyon man Nabil Fekir, the striker limping off after just 12 minutes.
"Unfortunately, he has a worrying knee ligament injury," he said.
