It was the pinnacle of Jose Fonte's career. The moment the Portuguese international had dreamed about since kicking his first ball as a young boy. It was also the beginning of the end of his Southampton days.
When Fonte hoisted the Henri Delaunay Trophy into Parisian skies last July after helping his country to a surprise winner over hosts France in the final of Euro 2016 it was widely greeted as one of the feel-good stories of recent times. It completed Fonte's fairy-tale climb from Tuesday night trips to the likes of Hartlepool and Dagenham & Redbridge to being crowned king of Europe in the space of only six unforgettable years.
In the days when flash cars and big money seemingly mean more to many elite players than silverware, Fonte's long slog to the top of his profession and the sacrifices that came with it were rightly applauded.
Let's not forget, either, that when Fonte first joined Southampton from Crystal Palace in 2010 he took the unusual step of dropping down a division from the Championship to League One, believing he had a better chance of achieving his own personal ambitions on the south coast.
Fast forward six months from that night in Paris and the feel-good story is no more as Fonte's status as a Southampton legend tarnished by a bitter contract dispute which has led to the club captain handing in a transfer request.
While there are some Saints fans who will have sympathy for their skipper, acknowledging his crucial contribution to their climb from the third tier back to the Premier League, there are many others who will now view him in a very different light than before.
The writing was on the wall long before Thursday's announcement by director of football, Les Reed, that Fonte had asked to leave. When he returned for pre-season training following the Euros, there was a subtle change from the Fonte who departed for France at the start of the tournament. The humility that inevitably comes from not making your international debut until beyond your 30th birthday was replaced by a confident swagger, the arrogance of someone who had shared an open-top bus parade with Cristiano Ronaldo.
If club insiders' accounts are to be believed, Fonte "still had his head in the clouds" when he reported for his first training sessions under new manager Claude Puel. That mental state of mind was clearly not helped by the ongoing claims Fonte was being lined up for a big-money move to Manchester United, speculation fuelled by his association with Jose Mourinho's super-agent pal, Jorge Mendes.
Southampton tried to quell the speculation by offering Fonte an improved contract worth a reported £80,000 a week, a far cry from those Dagenham and Hartlepool days. Still Fonte and Mendes were not happy, demanding that Southampton extended his deal beyond the end of his current contract in 2018.
Southampton refused to be held to ransom and Fonte's relationship with his current club would never be the same again.
Perhaps the last straw for Reed and his fellow top brass was Fonte openly questioning Puel's controversial squad rotation policy in the media.
Maybe, for Fonte at least, it was all over when he was not selected for any of Southampton's six Europa League group games -- a slap in the face given his role in their recent rise. Or maybe it was when he was publicly dropped by Puel on the pitch before last month's 3-1 derby win at Bournemouth that Fonte decided enough was enough. Whatever the truth -- and there are unsubstantiated rumours of a dressing-room bust-up after the New Year's Day defeat at home to West Brom -- it's a sad end to a magnificent career at St. Mary's.
It's also one that could have had a very different outcome but for that glorious night in the Stade de France.