Jubilant PSG parade Champions League trophy in Paris
AFP, Paris :
Tens of thousands of football fans packed the Champs-Elysees on Sunday to cheer the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) players and staff as they paraded the Champions League trophy in the French capital before a major celebration at their home stadium.
The team came by bus directly from Roissy airport after touching down from Munich, where they thrashed Inter Milan 5-0 in Saturday’s final. They were greeted along the route by scores of jubilant supporters.
Some had flags or flares, all wanted to savour their club winning the biggest prize in European club football for the first time in their history.
The players, all wearing shirts with ’25’ on them, brandished the trophy and addressed the crowd as they drove.
“Lets’ all sing together,” shouted their emblematic captain Marquinhos.
Coach Luis Enrique and his team, including Desire Doue, the 19-year-old who lit up the final by scoring twice in Saturday’s dazzling performance, later went to a reception at the Elysee palace hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron who lavished praise on the team.
“You are the champions and you have put Paris at the top of Europe,” he said.
“There were 11 of you on the field, but there was clearly a twelfth man — the entire French public, regardless of traditional allegiances,” said Macron, winking at his own loyalty to PSG’s rival club, Olympique de Marseille.
The president was also quick to condemn the violence which had scarred the victory celebrations in the capital, and elsewhere in France, after the final whistle on Saturday night.
Police made nearly 600 arrests across France, the interior ministry said, after more than 200 cars were torched and police clashed with youths.
In the southwest town of Dax, a 17-year-old boy died after being stabbed in the chest. A 23-year-old man riding a scooter in central Paris also died after being hit by a vehicle.
A policeman was put in an induced coma after being injured by a firework.
“Nothing can justify what has happened in the last few hours, the violent clashes are unacceptable,” said Macron said. “We will pursue, we will punish, we will be relentless.”
Macron also thanked the players and the club for their quick condemnation of the violence.