EURO 2008 INFO

Spain’s Euro 2008 football victory party turned sour when one fan died and nearly 100 suffered injuries amid wild celebrations in Madrid.

The victim, a 40-year-old man, was found lying in a pool of blood by street cleaners at dawn yesterday in the centre of the capital. There was no indication of foul play and police said that the fan, wearing the red shirt of the Spanish team, probably suffered a head wound after falling over in the crowd while inebriated.

After the national team had broken a 44-year spell without a top football title on Sunday night, Spaniards took to the streets in raucous celebrations that lasted well into the following day, causing tens of thousands to stay off work. Wrapped in Spanish flags or dressed as bullfighters, revellers let off fireworks and honked car horns.

Police tried to stop fans from jumping into the Cibeles fountain, the traditional — and now banned — way to celebrate a football victory, and made baton charges to break up isolated rioting in the capital.

More than 50 supporters were arrested for acts of vandalism and public disorder, police said. Most trouble occurred around Plaza Colón, where 65,000 fans watched the match on giant screens.

Throughout the day Spanish fans gathered in the Plaza Colón to await the arrival from Vienna of the team, praised by the Spanish media as the best in the country’s history.

“Our team has been crowned at the pinnacle of European football with a generation of young footballers without hang-ups who have swept away the curses of the past and herald a new era,” the Madrid daily El País said. The team set the pace for the celebrations, emerging from their dressing room after the match in their briefs, dancing wildly, showering a Spanish television presenter with champagne and ripping open his shirt.

The King of Spain also emerged from the dressing room to express his elation.

“I am happy for the lads, for the team, for Spain,” King Juan Carlos said. “We have suffered, but in the end it was worth it.”

Media commentators said that Spain had finally buried its reputation as football’s perennial underachievers. As with everything in Spain, however, the football team’s victory immediately fed into the country’s fractious political scene.

The Prime Minster, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, looked ecstatic and relieved as he emerged from Vienna’s stadium after the win.

He had defied an internet campaign by right-wing critics who had called on him not to attend the final because he is supposed to bring bad luck.