Rallies with cars and two-wheelers, waving of the national flag, strangers hugging each other — fan frenzy gripped Spain as it celebrated through Sunday night the Euro 2024 win.

Two Calcuttans, one of whom is in Madrid and the other in Tenerife, recounted to Metro how Spain celebrated after its national team defeated England 2-1.

The main celebration in Madrid happened at the city centre. Giant screens were set up for fans to watch the final played at Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany.

“Everyone in my area was wearing Spain’s national jersey since morning, much before the match started,” said Anup Mitra, an artist from Calcutta who works for an animation features company in Madrid.

“At a department store I saw all the employees and customers wearing the red jersey. Even a toddler in his mother’s arms was wearing the national jersey,” he said.

Mitra, who stays in Valdebebas, near Real Madrid’s practice stadium, said the Euro final was screened in every pub, bar and restaurant across the city.

He watched the match at a friend’s house nearby.

“While returning after the match on Sunday night, I saw people in cars, carrying big flags of Spain, shouting in their language, which I am still not very familiar with,” said Mitra, who has been staying in the Spanish capital for around two years.

“My friends told me the city centre, which hosted the biggest celebrations, witnessed motorcycle rallies,” he said.

On Monday morning, he saw big flags of Spain being put up outside the Real Madrid practice stadium.

However, the mob frenzy was not on the scale he used to see in Calcutta after India’s World Cup victory in cricket or the first time Kolkata Knight Riders had won the IPL.

On Tuesday, when he was travelling by train to his office, there was no buzz anymore.

“People returned to their normal lives the next day. I had thought there would be a national holiday, but there was nothing,” he said.

At Tenerife, a popular beach tourist destination in Spain, Raj Sajnani, a businessman from Calcutta, was part of a celebration. He is staying there for a
few weeks because
his daughter Priyasakhi
has enrolled in a tennis coaching programme.

“Since Tenerife is a tourist destination, there were many English football fans, who watched the Euro final alongside local Spanish
fans in pubs. They were sitting side by side,” said Sajnani.

After the match, the celebrations started with motorcycle rallies.

“There were not too many bikes. The fans were cheering and shouting. The celebrations went on till late at night. I did not see any scuffle between the fans of the two countries,” said Sajnani.

Like in Madrid, in Tenerife, too, people went back to their work the next day, he said.

Many people watched the Wimbledon final, too, and there were celebrations after Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic.

“I am planning to take my daughter to the Olympics in Paris and see if we can watch Alcaraz play there,” he said.