Warsaw Jun 29: Thousands of Italian football fans invaded the streets of Rome on Thursday to celebrate the victory against Germany and a place in European championship final against the Spanish.
Many were making the link with Europe's economic crisis, where the roles are reversed, with Germany the strongest economy and Italy one of the weakest in the Eurozone.
"This means that we can make it despite this big (economic) crisis," said Maria Ripeti, celebrating with a green, white and red hat in the Piazza del Popolo, the square where thousands of fans gathered to watch the match on a huge screen set up by Rome municipality.
The centre of the city was completely blocked by a flood of people who inundated the streets to celebrated the 2-1 success against Germany.
For the final - against Spain in Kiev on Sunday - the municipality of Rome is planning to set up a much bigger screen in Circo Massimo square, a venue for up to 500-thousand people, where Italy celebrated the victory of the 2006 world championship.
The often controversial Mario Balotelli let his football do the talking by scoring twice in the first half to secure an unexpected victory for the Italians.
Mesut Ozil scored a consolation goal for the Germans in injury time in the second half but it was all too little all too late.
While Italy has won four World Cups, its only European Championship came in 1968.
The Azzurri (Italy's nickname) managed to maintain their focus, like when they won the 1982 and 2006 World Cups, despite a match-fixing and betting scandal at home.
It was Italy's eighth consecutive victory against Germany in a major tournament.
Germany was seeking its fourth European title with a talented but young team, going home now to prepare for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Ten thousand Germany fans watched the match in a fan zone in Berlin.
They went home disappointed but most conceded that their team played well so there was nothing to complain about.
