Portugal erupts into party after reaching Euro 2004 finals

Portuguese supporters celebrate in the center of Lisbon at the end of the Euro 2004 semi final football match between Portugal and The Netherlands at the European Nations championship in Portugal. Portugal won the match 2 to 1 and will play the final game of the competition

Cities and towns across Portugal erupted in wild celebrations after the Euro 2004 hosts made history and reached the final of a major tournament for the first time by beating the Netherlands 2-1.

Thousands of flag-waving fans blocked Lisbon's main avenue, Avenida da Liberdade, as car horns could be heard blaring across the city.

"This is the first time we are at a final, the whole team needs to be congratulated," said Victor Pinto while his 15-year-old son kept repeating "This is fantastic! This is fantastic!".

Fans kicked crunched beer cans in impromptu street football games and danced in the street while others banged pots and pans from apartment windows.

Portugal has reached the semifinals of a major tournament three times -- at the 1984 and 2000 European championships and the 1966 World Cup -- but have never progressed beyond this stage before.

"We were very confident and we deserved to win," said 27-year-old Isabel Pinheiro who watched the match with friends at a cafe in Almada, the working-class suburb where Portuguese star Luis Figo hails from.

Many fans, including Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, are now dreaming of winning the final on Sunday.

"As I have said before, the sky is the limit. Now we are going to the final and God willing, we will win," he told state television RTP after watching the match at Lisbon's Alvalada stadium.

Portuguese fans celebrate outside the Estadio Jose de Alvalade in Lisbon after the European Nations championship semi-final football match between Portugal and The Netherlands

Street celebrations were reported on Portugal's mid-Atlantic Azores islands as well as on the Madeira archipelago off the coast of Morocco.

"Portugal is in the final!" screamed top-selling daily Correio da Manha on its Internet site while sports daily A Bola preferred "And so the Orange was squeezed" a reference to the national colour of the Netherlands.

Police reported no trouble as the thousands of Dutch fans who traveled to Portugal for the match commiserated.