Paris was a celebration, soured at the end by the two deaths, over 550 arrests, 700 fires, 260 burned vehicles, and 190 injuries in the disturbances that followed PSG's triumph in the Champions League. "Nothing can justify what happened in this country in the last hours," warned Emmanuel Macron during his reception of the entire team after the parade on the Champs-Elysées in front of over 100,000 fans, overshadowed by the incidents in the early hours of Saturday. "What happened is unacceptable. The country is in mourning; football is not about this."
The French president later praised "the sublime and monstrous way" in which PSG prevailed and personally thanked Luis Enrique (blushing) for over two minutes: "I remember very well what happened when you arrived, many people said they did not understand this team, that it was too young." Macron praised "the generosity and the demand" that the Spanish coach has instilled in PSG and with which they took to the field ready to devour Inter: "They were hungry, they wanted it, and they achieved it!"
The event at the Elysée Palace contrasted with a bittersweet day, between the jubilation and the shock of the French people over the outbursts of violence that spread beyond Paris the night before. In Dax, in the French Basque Country, a 17-year-old teenager was stabbed to death in a street tumult after the match. In the capital, a man riding an electric scooter was run over by a car during the celebrations.
The surroundings of the Arc de Triomphe, cordoned off by the police, were one of the "battlegrounds" throughout Saturday night, along with the vicinity of the Parc des Princes, where 40,000 fans watched the match on giant screens and had to be dispersed by riot police with water cannons and tear gas. Over twenty police officers were injured nationwide (one of them was in an induced coma on Sunday).
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau denounced "the presence of barbarians in the streets of Paris." "We cannot get used to this unbridled violence," Retailleau warned, criticized from the left for the aggressive response of the police. The minister retorted by renaming La France Insoumise as "La France Incendiée" (The Burned France).
Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right and president of the National Rally, joined the political fray by attacking the "riffraff" who take advantage of every popular celebration: "Not only do they create a serious security problem, but they tarnish France's image in the world."
The nighttime incidents indeed overshadowed PSG's triumph in the headlines and tarnished the celebrations the day after. In two buses, escorted along the way by dozens of motorcyclists, the PSG players and coach Luis Enrique arrived at the Champs-Elysées after five in the afternoon, in a parade dubbed "The Return of the Heroes."
Amid an impressive security deployment, thousands of fans managed to make their way through, while many others remained outside, struggling with the police. However, nothing could contain the exultant joy with which Luis Enrique and his team greeted the fans from the top of the open-top bus, with Dembélé blowing kisses to the crowd, Hakimi and Doué flaunting their sunglasses, and Marquinhos proudly displaying the trophy amidst a sea of red and blue flags and the smoke of flares.
After an hour of slow progress until reaching the Arc de Triomphe, the players regained their strength (Fabián kept eating sandwiches on top of the bus) and headed towards the Elysée Palace. Captain Marquinhos and PSG president, Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaifi, carried the trophy with both hands in the presence of President Macron, a fan of Olympique de Marseille, who indulged in his usual rhetoric: "You have put Paris at the top of Europe. And you have made not only Parisians vibrate but the entire country. Long live PSG! Long live France! Long live the Republic!"
The bittersweet celebration continued well into the night with the trophy presentation to over 40,000 fans at the Parc des Princes, turned into a sort of fortress by the police to prevent a second night of violence. Still, 79 people were arrested for the disturbances that followed the team's celebration.