Deflated, stunned by defeat and puzzled at the red-card exit of star player Zinedine Zidane, French soccer fans trudged home overnight after their country's loss at the World Cup final late on Sunday.
The famed Champs-Elysees in Paris, which had been crammed with flag-waving supporters watching the match on big screens, rapidly dwindled to just a few thousand diehards after Italy tucked away the decisive penalty.
Many just milled around, stunned, but others headed directly to metro stations to go home, French flags trailing despondently in their hands.
A few teenagers let off fireworks, and a squad of police fired teargas to clear a knot of sullen fans throwing bottles. A few skirmishing Italy and France supporters had to be separated.
A voice cried out, half-heartedly, "We came second!"
Zidane's face was projected onto the Arc de Triomphe, under a sign reading "Zizou, we love you," but few looked up at it.
The dejection on the faces spoke volumes. With the game coming down to penalty shootouts, they had harboured hopes right to the end of beating Italy to take the trophy, but a one-goal deficit shattered that.
Zidane's expulsion from the game for a headbutt to the chest of Italian player Marco Materazzi -- an incomprehensible act for the midfielder in what was his last professional game before retirement -- was foremost in the minds of many.
"For his last match, it wasn't really fair play," said a 24-year-old woman who gave her name as Cindy.
"I would have liked to see Zizou end it differently," said Ahmed, who had come with his children.
"I just cannot understand what was going through Zidane's head, it just doesn't make any sense," said one fan, Cyrille Bonet.
His brother, Emmanuel, added: "Italy didn't deserve it, but it's typical of the Italians, they played terribly for the whole match and then they win it on penalties."
An Italian fan in the crowd, Sergio Guardi, begged to differ.
"Italy were good, that's all there was to it. Now the French just have to be good losers," he said.
French President Jacques Chirac, speaking to French television in Berlin, where he watched the match, also expressed puzzlement at Zidane's red card behavior.
"I don't know what happened nor why he was sanctioned," he said, but added that Zidane was a man "who incarnated the best values of sport, the best human qualities and who did honor to French sport and simply honor to France."
Chirac said he was "both happy and dejected" because of the fine performance of France and the outcome, which he said came down to pure bad "luck."
RSS