Well, it started out politely with applause for the national anthems, yet two hours later had descended into singing in the streets. How did this happen? I give you the magic forumla of football + alcohol = frenzied excitement. You can probably throw into that the drama of penalties - and penalty saves - and it gives you the result that I witnessed last night in the Les Halles area of Paris. Previously extremely demure young ladies became fervent fans the closer the game got to its denouement. Every corner was screamed for, every free kick given against their team booed. The Frog and Rosbif (Paris’s first and best English pub, according to the marketing) was rammed, and the crowd was split roughly 50:50. No hint of any animosity between the two sets of fans, but lots of light-hearted banter (as far as my limited knowledge of both languages goes) and singing. But eventually it was the Spanish contingent who spilled (poured themselves?) out into the dark streets to continue their revellry into the night. Here’s how happy they were just after the match:

Happy faces, waved flags, plenty of booze…the perfect fooballing evening