And suddenly the noise came back. Europe sings, cries, hisses, insults sometimes, and all this in a football stadium, this place transformed into a white elephant during a pandemic, still present, but less visible. In Copenhagen, they are well 24,000 to exult in the spans of the Parken one evening of summer solstice. Nine days after the terror of the heart disease of its star, Christian Eriksen, Denmark blasted the Russian defense (4-1) to snatch a place in the round of 16.
Three days earlier, on June 18, in London, there was also joy. Members of the Scottish Tartan Army dance, sing in the underground and wade through the fountains, and too bad if many don’t have tickets to slip into their kilt for the game against England. Even a 0-0 has a taste of victory against the big neighbor, especially if you know how to water it well. “We haven’t stopped drinking for forty-eight hours”, smile Simon, Craig and Stephen, who traveled from Scotland.
Since it kicked off on June 11, this Euro 2020 – postponed for a year due to the health situation – offers scenes worthy of the world before. Again, we walk in procession towards the stadium and we embrace this unknown neighbor to celebrate the goal of his team. Barriers and gestures are falling, Europe would have almost become a party again, with its nuances, given the fragmented nature of this edition – in eleven cities, in eleven different countries.
For Copenhagen, Baku, Glasgow, Bucharest and Budapest, the event tastes like the first time. So wanted Michel Platini, father of this homeless format. “My idea consisted, for the sixty years of the competition, to be able to give the possibility to countries to have at least once in their history the Euro of football”, confided to World at the beginning of June the ousted president of UEFA (2007-2015).
The optional mask in Budapest
In Budapest, the Hungarian supporters received the decisive pass from the former number 10 of the Blues before the match against France on June 19. Some street vendors offer beers directly from the cooler, others have flags and perec, kind of local pretzels. The atmosphere is rather good-natured. A couple poses their daughter with a French supporter dressed in Obelix.
In a festive and patriotic enthusiasm, Fruzsi proclaims his pride a few minutes to see his selection stand up to the world champions (1-1). “We are at home and we want to show that Hungary can host this kind of competition. For me, it’s even more emotional than Euro 2016, where I made the trip to France ”, says the 20-year-old student.
You have 62.78% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.