KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The Latest on the Eurovision song contest (all times local):
4:45 p.m.
Eurovision winner Salvador Sobral has arrived in his native Lisbon after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine.
The 27-year-old Sobral was greeted by hundreds of ecstatic fans upon landing at Lisbon Airport.
With his gentle romantic ballad Amar Pelos Dois (Love For Both), Sobral captured 758 points in the contest, 143 more than second-placed Kristian Kostov, from Bulgaria, and gave Portugal its first ever win since it started competing in the international event in 1964.
A visibly tired Sobral said when interviewed upon landing by Portuguese TV that "I'm not a hero. That's Cristiano Ronaldo," referring to the Portuguese soccer star.
Sobral says that "I'm exhausted. I know this won't last. I want to be known as a musician. Not as the Eurovision winner."
9:55 a.m.
A gentle romantic ballad challenged the Eurovision Song Contest's decades-long reputation for cheesy, glittery, unbridled excess — and won easily.
Portugal's Salvador Sobral sang his Amar Pelos Dois (Love For Both) in a high, clear tenor accompanied by quiet strings and a piano in Saturday night's extravaganza, which was watched by millions around the world.
Unlike the 25 other competitors who performed on a wide stage backed by flashing lights, bursts of flames and other special effects, Sobral sang from a small elevated circle in the middle of the crowd, an intimate contrast to others' bombast.
"Music is not fireworks, music is feeling," he said while accepting the award.
Sobral won in a landslide, capturing 758 points, 143 more than second place.
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