Grateful fans were spread around the entrance to Senegal's hotel in central Yaoundé in a kaleidoscope of colours and a symphony of sounds. The pitch increased as the team bus nudged its way through fans for the final few metres.
The happy hundreds had come to acclaim their heroes. That it was well into the early hours of the morning after the night before at the Olembé Stadium was of little import.
The history men required recognition right here, right now in Cameroon before the flight back to ever more adoring hordes in Dakar a few hours later.
Coach Aliou Cissé - who missed a spot kick in the 2002 final loss to Cameroon – dedicated the first Cup of Nations crown to the Senegalese people.
"Since independence we've been chasing after this title," said the 45-year-old of the 60-year quest for the continental crown.
"And now we're champions of Africa. We can put a star on the shirt of the national team."
Gratitude
His thanks to his technical staff were just as emotional. "For nearly seven years, you've put the effort in with the squad," said Cissé. You've all done a great job. Brilliant."
Sadio Mané's penalty miss and ultimate success provided the narrative buttress to an absorbing final against Egypt who were skippered by his Liverpool teammate Mo Salah.
The blunder and the bliss also enabled the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations to culminate on tales of redemption and freshness.
Yet recriminations will need to be addressed in the heartland just as much as personal and collective stories of glory.
Eight deaths and nearly 40 injuries from a stampede of fans should remain to the fore.
Change
Lives and families are under reconfiguration all because of the perennial sloppiness that defines the organisation of Africa's most prestigious football competition.
Usually the Confederation of African Football (Caf) executives elude the consequences of inconsistent standards and poor facilities.
But on 24 January at the Olembé Stadium just before the last-16 game betweenCameroon and Comoros, the structural faultlines were gruesomely exposed.
Hundreds of people including families with small children and others without tickets surging around the stadium access roads spotted an opening and scrambled towards it.
And then the simple chronicles of deaths foretold: scores of people arriving after watching the previous game on TV; eagerness to see the start of the Cameroon match; chancers as well as freeloaders and a gate closed when it should have been open. And then opened when it should have remained closed. And voilà. Deaths and gore.
Memorial
It could have happened in Ghana in 2008, Angola in 2010 or indeed in Cairo in 2019. That it came at a new and shiny 200-million euro stadium during a pandemic that thrives on closeness only accentuates the cavalier core of the top ranks.
Memorials to the victims were paid at the ensuing last-16 games. There was a minute of silence before kick-off and players wore black armbands.
The minute of silence before the final on Sunday was barely half way through before it was over. Unsurprising. This has been a tournament where referees have been known to end proceedings prematurely.
In the aftermath of the Olembé stampede, organisers ordained that the show would go on. But not at the scene of the tragedy.
Suspension
Patrice Motsepe, head of Caf, stripped the stadium of games during an investigation into the causes of the disaster.
After the local fixers and the Cameroon government assured that there would be better security, the ground was reinstated in time for the semi-final between Cameroon and Egypt.
But that tie was sparsely attended. Just over 24,000 people in a 60,000 seat arena.
A mere 40 percent of capacity, when up to 80 percent of the seats could have been filled in line with Covid-19 restrictions in place for the tournament.
Even the most lugubrious pessimist might have baulked at proposing such grimness.
Rethink
And it was followed with the elimination of the hosts.
"On the field, Cameroon have to look at what they did well and realise that even that was not good enough against Egypt," said former Cameroon goalkeeper Joseph-Antoine Bell.
Egypt's ploy of stifling and hoping for a flash or two of brilliance from Salah or unerring accuracy in the penalty shoot-out had worked in the last-16 and the semi-finals.
And it almost brought them a record-extending eighth title on Sunday night. But they were hoisted by their own petard.
It was Senegal's time to shine.
