Police put a $500 damper on one Montreal man’s World Cup celebrations Sunday.

In the black, red and gold excitement of Germany’s 1-0 defeat of Argentina, Adam Guzzo decided the German flag deserved to be flown high above the swarm of street revellers.

“I told my buddy, ‘I'm going to climb up that lamppost, get me a flag,’” said Guzzo. “So I climbed up, I had a flag and I was waving it. And all the faces turned, cellphones came out and everyone was cheering.”

Everyone but police.

Guzzo said officers came over and ordered him back down to earth, giving him a $500 fine to make sure he stayed grounded.

“I thought they were joking or trying to scare me or something,” said Guzzo, who says he wasn’t drunk when he scaled the post.

“I can understand the ticket, I can't understand a half-a-grand ticket for that.”

Police aren’t commenting on Guzzo’s case specifically, but said officers enforce the area’s bylaws. Climbing on any public structure -- including trees, fire hydrants and statues -- is a crime.

Guzzo says despite receiving offers to help crowd-fund his fine payment, he plans on contesting the ticket once he receives it in the mail.

And though he has four years before his team will play at the World Cup again, Guzzo has already decided he’ll be celebrating the next German victory with his feet on the ground.

“In retrospect I don't think it was worth $500 for my 15 seconds of fame,” he says. “But it happened.”

With a report from CTV Montreal’s Denise Roberts