The cacophony of car horns, fans chanting “Italia” or singing the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, burst forth minutes before midnight on Sunday evening. Gianluigi Donnarumma had saved Bukayo Saka’s penalty and Italy were the Euro2020 champions.

From the football yard in Merl--the capital city’s hottest ticket to watch the tournament on the big screen--to the boulevard Royal and the avenue de la Gare, down to that hotbed of everything Italian, Esch-sur-Alzette, Italian flags were being waved from cars and masses gathered on the streets to cheer them on.

It was a deserved victory, on the night and for the way the Italians have approached the tournament with a combination of their familiar defensive steeliness and freshly found joyful attacking football, and not an uncertain amount of what the English call “shithousery”.

And that despite England starting the match with the fastest goal ever scored in a European Championship final, with Luke Shaw striking inside two minutes. That sparked wild celebrations among the England fans at public viewings across the grand duchy, even if they were outnumbered by their Italian counterparts. But Italy deservedly equalised through Leonardo Bonucci on 67 minutes, and from then on there was hardly any doubt that Italy would prevail.