Soccer-Euphoric Napoli fans flood streets for champions tour by land and sea
NAPLES, Italy (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Napoli fans gathered in the city on Monday to celebrate the club's second Serie A championship in three years, with the streets turning into a sea of the team's blue colours during an open-top bus parade.
Naples erupted with joy on Friday evening as Napoli sealed the Scudetto with a 2-0 home win over Cagliari, turning the city upside down in a blaze of fireworks, flares and unfiltered euphoria as celebrations lit up the night sky.
The party rolled on into Monday as a ship carrying the team and the trophy docked at the port of Naples, where two open-top buses awaited to take the champions on a triumphant drive through the city before returning to the ship to continue the celebrations into the night.
After winning the title two years ago, the club were not able to have an open bus parade but a million people are expected on the streets this time.
For Napoli's top scorer in Serie A, Romelu Lukaku, the celebration turned emotional as he marked his second Scudetto — having lifted the trophy with Inter Milan in 2021.
"Too much emotion, we did a great job and I'm happy for all these people, as well as for us, the team, the club and the coach. We never gave up and we deserved this success," the Belgian striker told Rai from the bus.
Napoli midfielder Stanislav Lobotka also relished the atmosphere.
"I'm very happy to be able to celebrate with these fans, for me they are as spectacular as the city and the team. This is Naples," he said.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Ed Osmond)
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