Madrid was in fiesta mode yesterday.Cars charged up and down the main avenues. Horns blared. Flags flew in the hot breeze, many of them painted with the black Spanish bull even though it barely escaped the "green matador" yesterday.
In the centre of Madrid at the Plaza de Cibeles, the shrine of Spanish football, hundreds gathered to celebrate in a temperature well over thirty degrees.
It was almost as if they'd won the World Cup.
The festive mood was tinged with a palpable sense of relief.
In the Irish pubs Spaniards and Irish cheered and groaned together.
The nervous tension was unbearable and Spanish-Irish love affairs were in danger.
The Irish fans cheered even when they were one down. The atmosphere in the Irish pubs made it feel as though there was no distance between Madrid and Suwon.
"Come on Ireland! Adios España!" was the battle cry. They stood and sang the Irish National Anthem in Irish and shouted Olé with a Dublin accent.
When Mendieta scored the final penalty, the Irish went numb and the Spaniards rose as one and screamed.
Madrid exploded with relief. The place to be was the Plaza de Cibeles.
Even though the plaza is Madrid's shrine of football, the Irish flag drew cheers from Spanish fans who knew the Irish deserved to win.
The Spanish fans gave the thumbs up sign and shook hands with the Irish - thanking them for missing the penalties and for just having a little less luck on the day.