FOOTBALL: JUBILANT PSG PARADE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TROPHY IN PARIS
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Agency Report
Tens of thousands of football fans packed the Champs-Elysees on Sunday to cheer the Paris Saint-Germain 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.
“These isolated acts are contrary to the club’s values and in no way represent the vast majority of our supporters, whose exemplary behaviour throughout the season deserves to be commended,” the club said Sunday.
Police were on high alert to prevent any repetition of Saturday’s scene which paled against an incident last Monday when a Premier League victory parade by Liverpool Football Club in the English city ended in horrific scenes after a car ploughed into the crowd, leaving 79 injured.
PSG are concluding their day’s festivities with a party at their Parc des Princes home ground.
An estimated 11.8 million viewers watched the game on French television as PSG became just the second French side afer Marseille in 1993 to become European champions.
The margin of victory was the greatest in a final in the history of the Champions League or the European Cup that preceded it.
Qatar Sports Investments pumped hundreds of millions of euros into PSG since buying an ailing club in 2011, but over the last couple of seasons they have turned their back on their former policy of signing stars such as Neymar and Lionel Messi and focussed instead on young French talent.
Doue cemented his status as a rising star in world football. Senny Mayulu, another 19-year-old, came on as a substitute towards the end and scored the fifth goal.
“In the dressing room, everyone broke down in their own way, you could see it in their eyes, people were filled with joy and pride,” Mayulu said after the game.
PSG had lost their only other appearance in the final five years ago but after Saturday’s triumph, said they planned to win more.
“The objective now is to win again,” PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi said. “It has taken 14 years of hard work but we are building something for the future.”
AFP
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