PARIS - With shouts of "Zizou, Zizou!" and "We're in the final!" on their lips, tens of thousands of French fans poured onto the Champs Elysees after France advanced to the World Cup final Wednesday night. One fan was killed in a subway accident, disrupting traffic while the metro system was packed with people.

The victim had climbed atop a train at the Opera metro station, in central Paris beneath the famed Opera Garnier, and fell at around midnight. Police said circumstances of the accident remained unclear.

Most fans remained unaware of any trouble following the 1-0 victory over Portugal, however, running, galloping and partying toward the Arc de Triomphe on Paris' most famous boulevard.

Scattered violence was reported as some raucous fans got out of hand. Clashes broke out in Lyon after the match, and some 20 people injured, the Lyon fire department said. Cars were also torched and vandalized.

More trouble was reported at the Charlety stadium in southern Paris, where the match was broadcast live on a huge screen. One person was hospitalized with injuries from the melee, police said.

Police have been especially vigilant following riots that broke out last fall in France's troubled neighborhoods, where many immigrants from Africa live with their French-born children.

But most fans remained peaceful but energized, mounting Paris monuments and dancing through streets of several cities. Advancing this far in the tournament has been particularly sweet for a nation beset by malaise ¡ª and one that had little faith in its team going into the Cup.

Fans chanted "Zizou, Zizou!", the nickname of star Zinedine Zidane, who scored Wednesday's winning goal on a penalty kick.

Tricolor hats in a variety of shapes and sizes and faces painted red, white and blue filled alleys and avenues across the capital, from the student-filled Left Bank to the monument at the Bastille.

Portuguese fans kept a low profile. A group wearing Italy t-shirts at a Paris cafe joked about needing bodyguards for the rest of the week, until Sunday's France-Italy final.

Immediately after the match, the normally debonair prime minister Dominique de Villepin draped himself in a French flag at the stadium in Munich and excitedly showered the team with "a lot of emotion, a lot of love."

"Bravo to everyone!" French President Chirac said in a statement after the match but before the death occurred. Chirac will head to Berlin for Sunday's final.

Red flares soared up over a central square in Toulouse in the Pyrenees, as fans sang Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" ¡ª an unofficial theme of the French team in 1998 ¡ª and the French anthem.