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Champagne welcome French Euro 2000 champions return home to celebration
Posted: Sunday July 09, 2000 10:35 AM
PARIS (CNNSI.com) -- France partied like it was 1998. The newly crowned European champions returned home to Paris on Monday and were greeted with a Champagne celebration with tens of thousands of jubilant fans -- two years after Paris celebrated France's home triumph in the 1998 World Cup. Just as the surprising Italian team had threatened to spoil France's party until the very last minute on Sunday night, storms in the French capital looked like they would wash out the party for the winners of Sunday's dramatic Euro 2000 final, where a stoppage-time equalizer from Sylvain Wiltord and an extra-time strike from fellow substitute David Trezeguet earned a 2-1 victory. Just in time the clouds parted, leaving the victorious French team gathered on the balcony of the luxurious Hotel Crillion, and thousands of cheering fans together in the Place de la Concorde, awash in sunshine. Chanting "On est champions" (We are the champions), supporters let off fireworks, blared horns and waved French and a smattering of Algerian flags. The crowd swelled to from 15,000 to 35,000, police said, filling the large square at one end of the Champs-Elysee. The team appeared on the balcony, relaxed in white and green T-shirts, dancing and clapping with the jubilant crowd as captain Didier Deschamps raised the cup, flanked by Youri Djorkaeff and Fabien Barthez. Massed on the balcony with wives and girlfriends beneath a huge French jersey draped down the facade of the hotel, the players sprayed champagne and flung T-shirts with the slogan "Victory is in us -- still" into the crowd. For some player, the day carried extra significant. Arsenal's Emmanuel Petit skipped the party to get married, Zinedine Zidane shaved his already sparse head of hair after a bet and Robert Pires signed a four-year contract to join Petit at Arsenal. One of the biggest cheers came as blonde supermodel Adriana Karembeu, wife of Christian Karembeu, appeared on the balcony. In the final, Italy drew within seconds of triumph before Wiltord brought the French back from the dead with an equalizer in stoppage time. Trezeguet won the match for France with a 103rd minute "golden goal." For some at the celebration on Monday, Les Bleus' success represented two things -- a renewed belief that France can win, either on in the soccer field or in the world of business, as well as a sense of unity in a multi-cultural society. "People used to make fun of France; we always finished second. This is a France that wins, finally. And we see it in many areas -- business, the economy and notably the new economy," said a Parisian businesswoman who gave her name as Francoise. The victory of the French team -- which includes players with West African, North African and Caribbean origins -- in the 1998 World Cup originally generated comparisons with modern-day society in the former colonial power. "It reflects the country today, a combination of cultures, a group of friends. That's what makes the team so strong," said 29-year-old Senegalese student Djibril Ndoye. Wearing an Arsenal jersey -- "it's my favorite English club" -- Boudjema, a 22-year-old Parisian student of Algerian descent, said France's double triumph had let people of varying origins interact. "The team symbolizes many things. The players are young, like me and it's a mixture of blacks, Arabs and French. There are so many different cultures," he said. "It reflects France since the World Cup. It reflects France today."
Reuters contributed to this report.
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